A Rift Through Dimensions
by NewAuraGuardian
Summary: One day the Doctor crash landed in my home, and he sent me to look for a creature that could rip apart dimensions. I was sent to the worlds of Steven universe, Pokémon, TMNT, Undertale and many more to find it and bring it back. But this is nothing like how I imagined it would go.
1. Chapter 1: The man with the box

_The power of his strike forced me down onto the glass platform, the impact from my now swollen and bruised face causing a crack to appear in it, and a thin line of hot red liquid to start rolling down my forehead. I looked up at him once more, his cold purple eyes staring through me and into my soul, blocking out the screams and cries from everyone around us._

 _I forced my arms to move as I tried to grab the sword in front of me, but before my aching fingers could wrap themselves around the ink black handle, the glowing white blade shattered under the giant foot of the creature in front of me._

 _I let out a painful groan seeing as moving my left arm caused my cracked rib to only crack itself even more. In the end I couldn't restrain myself anymore, and the tears I had been holding in behind stinging eyes started to roll down my heated cheeks._

 _This was never meant to happen. This isn't how it was supposed to end…_

 _How the hell did this all even happen…?_

* * *

A low steady beeping was reaching out to me through the darkness. Every beep soon became louder than the last, and it started to wake an annoyance in me. I didn't want to leave the comfortable blackness around me, but I knew the only way to make the noise stop was to wake up and turn it off. After a few more beeps I finally forced my eyes open and shut off the alarm, the new silence almost deafening to my ears.

It took me a while to wake up enough to look at clock on my nightstand, but as soon as I saw the glowing numbers I quickly grabbed my glasses and jolted out of bed with such speed that I fell onto the floor in the process.

"Shoot! Shoot, shoot, shoot! Damn it, I'm gonna be late for school!" I tell myself as I put on the black spectacles and hurried over to the closet and pulled the white doors open, only to be met with a bunch of clothes falling out in front of me. Oh, right, I was supposed to organize my clothes yesterday. Anyways, no time for that now!

I grabbed a pair dark jeans and a random short sleeved shirt before putting them on and hurrying downstairs, brush in hand and forcing it through my short messy locks. Once I entered the kitchen I threw the brush on the dinner table, knocking over a candle that I didn't care about since it wasn't lit, and grabbed two slices of bread from a cupboard before running into the hallway, grabbing my keys, putting on my converse and jacket, and practically flying out the front door.

The cool winter air hit me hard in the face, and it didn't take me long to realize that it was raining as well, which didn't exactly make my situation any better. I let out an irritated groan muffled by the bread in my mouth as I left the shelter of the small roof above the door and within seconds I was already soaked and my glasses were like drenched windshields. And as if it couldn't get any worse, as I reached for my jacket's hood, I noticed that I'd taken the jacket without one.

Of course.

I started running like crazy, seeing my neighbors looking at me like I'd just escaped a mental hospital, and looked down at my wrist, only to realize I'd left my watch at home. I reached for the phone in my pocket, but realized it was home as well. I cursed under my breath as I ran past a cyclist, and soon she was cycling next to me with a funny expression on her face.

"Where are you going in such a hurry, Felix?" the woman asked, and only then I noticed that it was one of my dad's co-workers that was talking to me. I slowed down just barely to look at her and flashing an annoyed smile.

"I'm going to the North Pole to drink tea with Santa. It's Monday, where do you think I'm going?!" I exclaimed, irritation clear in my voice, and I could hear a snicker from the lady beside me.

"School?" she asked, and I let out an irritated groan, hurrying my pace as I realized running at my top speed wouldn't be fast enough, and she started going faster as well.

"Where else would I be going?!" I almost screamed back at her, lactic acid burning my legs from the inside out as I went Sonic the Hedgehog once I saw the roof of my school behind a small forest of trees.

"Even though it's Christmas break?"

I stopped dead in my tracks, almost falling over from the sudden action, and the lady continued a few more meters before slowing down and stepping off her bike, walking over to me with a half opened umbrella.

I just stood there dumbfounded, letting the cold rain drench my already soaked clothes even more before she held the umbrella over my head, now shielding me from the water pouring down around us.

"Y-You're joking, right?" I say with a shaky voice, breaking the awkward silence between the two of us. At this she starts laughing, and I can feel my face heating up as I sink into the ground. This did seriously not just happen, right? And all my neighbors saw me too! Please tell me this isn't real. It's just a dream, right?

Of course it isn't, that'd just be stupid.

"Oh, it's almost ridiculous how much you're like your father. He always rushes to work without even checking if he's supposed to. I can't even count how many times I've seen him standing outside the doors when it's weekend." She said once she'd stopped laughing, and I started to scratch the left side of my neck, something I always do when I'm embarrassed. Come to think of it, I guess that's something dad does as well.

"I'll… take that as a compliment." I said, smiling nervously at her, before stuffing my hands in my jeans' drenched pockets. I heard her laugh again, and when I looked up at her she was smirking at me.

"So, are you just going to stay out here, or do you want me to follow you home?" she asked, and I smiled at her.

"Yeah, I guess. Thanks, Marie." I said, and she handed me the umberella before walking back to her bike and grabbing another one. And when we started to head back home, I just couldn't wait to go back to bed and stay there for the rest of the day.

* * *

Once I'd finally arrived back home I told Marie goodbye and went inside, kicking off my soaked black converse and pulling off my socks, before taking off my jacket and walking into the kitchen to have a real breakfast. I pulled out a chair and sat down, letting out a heavy sigh and leaning against the backrest.

So, I've totally just embarrassed myself in front of my whole neighborhood, that's not something you do every day. I laughed and turned my head to look at the knocked over candle… only to see it standing up like it did before I knocked it over. I stood up and took a few steps back, surprise definitely visible on my face.

"Wasn't that on the floor before I left?! I'm sure it was! I knocked it over, and it fell! Or, maybe I just imagined it? Y-Yeah, that must be it! I was just really tired, and imagined that I knocked over a candle! Yeah! That's the only logical reason, so I don't have to worry, because it's not like there's anyone else but me in this house! Yeah!" I almost screamed out to myself, seeing as screaming always calms me down for some reason.

I started laughing, though I could hear the nervousness in my voice clearly, and as on reflex I backed over to the pot cupboard and grabbed a frying pan. Just in case.

I decided not to stay down here any longer and started to head back upstairs to my room, the thought of lying down in my cozy bed causing a loud yawn to sound through the empty house.

As soon as I got up to the living room I could see my bed through the open door, I started running towards it and the moment I set my foot inside the door, I jumped across the entire room and landed face first in the messy and unmade covers.

I let out a deep sigh and buried my face deeper in the mess that was my heaven, and I instantly felt sleepiness fall over me like a heavy blanket. I closed my eyes and let the frying pan drop to the floor, I let out another yawn, and soon I felt my mind slip away into dreamland…

 _CRASH!_

The loud and sudden noise echoed through the second floor, pulling me out of my dream-state and back to reality in a second. I pushed myself up into a sitting position, eyes wide and my mind on hyper mode, trying to process what was actually happening.

Did someone break an entrance?! Are they gonna rob me?! What if they take something valuable?! Or worse, what if they hurt me?!

All these thoughts caused me to hyperventilate, and I could feel tears forcing their way to my eyes. But I roughly wiped them away and steadied my breath. I reached down for the pan beside me and grabbed the handle tightly, before as silently as possible, making my way out of the room.

I stopped once I reached the door, and steadied my grip on the pan. I took a deep breath, and jumped out.

Nothing. The relief I felt when I found nothing and no-one in the living room was overwhelming, and I had to let out a chuckle of joy. But I knew I couldn't let my guard down, because since I didn't find anything up here, it meant that whoever broke in must be downstairs.

I sneaked over to the stairs and made my way down, as quietly as humanly possible, and it wasn't until then that I heard a weird sort of "woorping" sound. And strangely, it almost felt familiar.

I stopped, shook my head, and closed my eyes. I needed to concentrate.

If there's someone in the house my only ways of escaping is either through the front door, the door to the garden, or through my window back upstairs. The kitchen is three doors from the bottom step to the left, the knives are attached to the wall above the counter, in case of absolute necessity. If I make it out, I can run to my grandparents, that's just four houses from here, and call the police. If I don't make it that far, I'll lock myself in the bathroom next to the kitchen, if not to stall time, then at least to protect myself from getting hurt.

I took another deep breath.

"You can do this, Felix. If your brother could do it, then so can you." I tell myself in an effort to make me feel brave, and adjust my grip on the pan.

I finally took the step onto the bottom of the stairs, and the weird noise was starting to die down. Before it did though, I took a moment to listen to it more closely, and once the realization struck me of what the source was, I almost dropped the frying pan in surprise.

I covered my mouth with one hand to keep myself from gasping aloud, and I took one step back up the staircase.

There is no possible way for it to be, yet they sounded exactly the same. How I hadn't recognized it earlier almost chocked me, but I wasn't surprised that I didn't. I know what the source is, and I know where it's _from_ , but how _it_ was able to be here…

"It doesn't make sense!" I whisper shouted into my hand, and carefully made my way off the stairs.

Just around the corner to my right was the first floor living room, and through the wall right behind me was my parents' bedroom. That's where all the noise came from.

I started moving around the corner, making sure to not make a sound and keeping my back to the wall as I did, and after a few seconds of this sneaking, I stopped outside the bedroom door. I heard rustling inside, like if someone was looking frantically for something, and I took one last calming breath.

Before I kicked in the door.

"Whoever you are, get the hell out of my house before I-!" I cut myself off mid-sentence.

The sight I saw was describable, but unbelievable.

A blue box, at least two meters tall, with double doors and a sign above them that read _PUBLIC CALL POLICE BOX_ in glowing white letters. A British telephone police box was standing inside my parents' bedroom, fully lit up and still sounding that weird noise, though it was very low.

I stumbled a few steps back, letting the pan slip out of my grasp before dropping down on the floor, gasping for air. The chock was too much for me, and I started hyperventilating again. It didn't make any sense…

"This doesn't make sense. This shouldn't be possible, this CAN'T be possible! It's not real! It's just a dream, right?! It's just a dream! I'm just dreaming! Yeah! I'm just dreaming that the TARDIS is in my house, right in front of me, just within my reach! Because in reality, it's not!"

"Okay, you need to calm down before you go completely bonkers."

Someone was holding onto my shoulders. Someone's strong hands were gripping my arms worryingly, keeping me in a steady hold. Someone whose voice was so familiar that it was impossible for me to process it. It had a place somewhere in my mind, but I didn't know where.

Then finally, I looked up…

And was greeted with a smiling face and deep, sad eyes.

"There we go. Just breathe in slowly, and let it out."

Without really thinking, I did as the calming voice told me to and closed my eyes, sucked in a deep breath, held it in for a few seconds, and let it out. I repeated this process a few times before I finally managed to calm down just enough to look back up at the strange man.

"All better now?" he asked, and I slowly nodded my head, never taking my eyes off him. He smiled again and let out a relieved sigh, before finally letting go of my arms and standing up again. He reached out his hand towards me, and after a slight hesitation, I took it, and he helped me up from the floor.

I took a step back, earning the most subtle of surprised looks from him, before taking one more calming breath.

"Ehm… w-who are you, and how did you end up in my house?" I asked, hearing my voice stutter and crack slightly. He looked a bit more confused, but then he seemed to remember something, and let out a small chuckle.

"Oh, right, we haven't met before, have we? Sorry, I must've mixed something up. Right, well, I'm the Doctor, and who might you be?" He said, that smile still on his face, giving him a sort of childish appearance.

But the Doctor he was indeed. From the accented voice to the talk to the face to his eyes, he couldn't be anyone else.

His hair was in a fashion just like my own, though mine was black, and his brown. Deep green-brown eyes that were the opposite of my large purple ones, yet I found a familiar sadness in them. And a sharp jawline that was in no way like my rounded and scarred one.

And around his neck, was the iconic red bowtie.

A sudden and strange feeling of acceptance washed over me, and I finally told myself what I should've known the moment I saw him.

The eleventh regeneration of the Doctor, from one my most absolute favorite TV-shows since for as long as I can remember, was standing in front of me. In my home. In my _world_.

"I-I'm… My name is Felix. Felix Birch. It's nice to meet you, Doctor…?" I say, trying to sound curious and a bit confused, so he would think that I don't know who he is. After all, if I do something wrong to make him suspicious of me knowing about him, all of time and space could get messed up. And then who knows?

"Oh, just the Doctor. Now then, as for your question of how I got here…" He said, looking directly at me, and stopped himself from talking for a moment. I looked back at him, but could barely stand the strange look of sadness in his eyes, so I averted my eyes from his and gave him a small smile.

"Yeah, I'd really like to know how you got your telephone box through the door to my parents' room." I said, and let out a small laugh. The Doctor looked taken aback for only the shortest moment, before he let out a slightly nervous chuckle.

"Oh, right, sorry about that. Didn't mean to land her in the house, I was trying to aim at your backyard. Though I have no clue how she got inside. From what I saw she didn't break through the roof… Did she? In that case, I'm so sorry about that!" The Doctor ranted on, panic slightly noticeable in his voice, and hearing him like this, I couldn't help but laugh.

Confusion was finally visible on his face, mixed with a sort of relief, and he let out another nervous chuckle. I calmed down after a minute or so, and looked back up at him with a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, Doctor. The roof is completely intact. You haven't broken anything." I say, and the Doctor let out a short laugh of relief.

"Good, I hate it when that happens. Well then. Back to your question. I don't exactly know how we ended up here. You may not believe it, but this isn't just any old police box…" He said, a slight smirk on his face. Again, I acted confused and surprised. Again, because I don't want to mess up space and time.

"Then, what is it?" I asked, acting even more curious, which I for the most part actually was.

I mean, be honest with yourself. If your favorite character, from your favorite show, game, movie or whatever, came to your house and was pretty much offering you a glimpse of their world, wouldn't you be curious and excited as well?

That's what I thought.

He smiled and walked over to the box, giving it a pat before he leaned on it, looking at me again.

"It's a spaceship." He answered, that childish smirk back on his face, making him look like a twelve year-old. I let my excitement show, earning a genuine smile of happiness from him, and I breathed in slowly.

"Are you serious?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

"Why don't you take a look?" He said, nodding towards the door beside him.

Was this happening? Was this really happening? This was all too much for me to take in, but I knew I couldn't let it show. For the Doctor, it was probably just like any meeting with a new companion, and letting them see the TARDIS for the first time. But for me, knowing that this was never supposed to be possible in the first place, it was overwhelming.

I took a step closer to the door, and suddenly, strange thought struck me like a bolt of lightning.

What if it isn't how it's supposed to be? What if it isn't bigger on the inside? In this world, for anything to have a bigger interior than exterior would break the laws of physics. So what if the TARDIS is effected by our physics and is broken? I know it's alien technology, but still. How would the Doctor get back if that's the case? If the TARDIS' inside shrunk, he's stuck here, and won't be able to return to his own world!

I took another step, still having these thoughts running through my head at a million miles an hour.

But instead of letting my panic continue, I sucked in a deep breath and calmed my racing mind down.

No, he's gonna be fine. Everything is going to be okay.

I stopped when I was right in front of the blue double doors, and let my hand rest on the handle. I looked up at the Doctor, and he gave me a reassuring smile, which I returned shortly, and turned my attention back to the door.

I guess this is it. I took one last breath, and pushed the doors open.


	2. Chapter 2: It's going down for real

_I stopped when I was right in front of the blue double doors, and let my hand rest on the handle. I looked up at the Doctor, and he gave me a reassuring smile, which I returned shortly, and turned my attention back to the door._

 _I guess this is it. I took one last breath, and pushed the doors open._

* * *

I let out a gasp.

I knew there was a chance that this would happen, but it was still so surprising that my breath got caught in my throat. I was at a loss for words.

I took my first step inside the box, and was greeted with the cold feeling of a metal floor under my bare foot. I took another step and the same cold feeling rushed up my other leg, sending a shiver along my spine. I kept walking until I was up the small ramp and only a few inches from the control panel.

I looked around, my eyes wide open, taking in every detail of the room around me. The orange-red walls with all of those weird circle thingies, the black cables hanging down from the ceilings, the glass platform I was standing on, and the messy yet amazing console in front of me.

"So, what do you think?" I heard the Doctor ask behind me, and I slowly turned to look at him, still taking in my surroundings. He was leaning with one hand on the wall beside the open door, a smile on his face. I turned my gaze back to the console as I answered, and when I did, I could see the Doctor mimicking my words out of the corner of my eye.

"It's… bigger on the inside."

I heard him laugh before he suddenly jumped up right next to me, taking me by surprise, and started walking around the console. When I had finally managed to process everything that was happening, even though it was way more unbelievable than I'd ever imagined, I walked over to the Doctor.

"This place is… amazing, Doctor." I whispered, and he turned to look at me.

"This, is the TARDIS." He said, and motioned over the room with his arms. "She's my time-traveling spaceship, and she's very sick."

His happy smiling expression changed drastically to a serious one, and I was so taken off-guard by this that I was forced to take a step back.

"It-she's, sick? How can a space-time machine be sick?" I asked, genuinely confused and surprised by this. There was no way that I knew of for the TARDIS to be sick, that was impossible. But when I think about it, maybe the fact that she's so far from her own universe, dimension, whatever, has affected her worse than I thought.

"She was forcefully pulled from the time vortex, and dragged into this world. Your world. I don't know how or why, but it has made her very sick." After he said that he slowly walked over to the other side of the control panel and pressed a few buttons.

Suddenly the ball-chain cylinder inside the glass tube in the middle of the panel started moving up and down, but not like it should. It was moving slower, almost like it was trying to pull itself up, and not at all in time with the sound it was making. The sound too was off, much slower and darker, and it cut off at times.

After what couldn't have been more than twenty seconds, the Doctor flipped a switch, and the sound disappeared.

He looked back up at me, a sad look on his face, and I could see the hurt in his eyes as well.

"Is… Is there any way to fix her?" I asked, and I could hear the worry in my own voice clearly.

"I hope so, but honestly, I don't know." I could hear the sadness in his voice when he spoke, and it almost forced tears to my eyes. To hear this usually happy and laughing man, so hopeless and broken, it wasn't right. I sucked in a shaky breath, and walked over to the Doctor, looking him straight in the face as I spoke.

"Tell me everything, Doctor. I don't care how unbelievable or weird it might sound, but if there is a chance that I can help you, I'll do whatever I can to do so." I said, confidence once again back in my voice. The Doctor looked chocked at my words, but cracked a small smile.

"Thank you, Felix. You have no idea how much that means to me." He said, and I gave him a warm smile in return.

"Don't mention it. Now, you said something about being pulled out of a, time vortex, was that it?" I said, and the Doctor briefly shook his head before walking over to the screen stuck to the glass cylinder, and pressing a few buttons on the console under it.

"Yes. The Time vortex is what gives the TARDIS the power and energy to travel through time, so without it, she would only be like any other bigger-on-the-inside spaceships." He said, and pressed a button on the side of the screen.

"Right." I said, nodding my head before walking over to him and looking at the screen.

On the display there was a picture of what I assumed to be the Time vortex. It was like a tube of light, shining in many different colors, and filled with tons of stars. Suddenly the Doctor put his finger on the screen by one of the openings of the vortex, and started speaking.

"So, to travel through the vortex, you have to go into one end, and travel along the walls to the other end. It's the only way to safely do it. But!" The Doctor turned to look at me again before continuing. "If whatever's inside the vortex is pulled out by force, not only does it affect the Time vortex itself, but it also damages the object that was ripped out, since it takes such an incredible power for the Time vortex to be tamed."

"But if it takes that much power to just stay inside the vortex, how could anything be strong enough to rip through it?" I asked, and the Doctor pressed a few more buttons before flipping a switch, and turning the screen towards me.

When I first saw what was on the screen I thought I was just looking at a picture of space, but it only took me second to realize that what was actually displayed was a creature, as black as night, with lights placed all over its body, shining like stars. There was also a dark purple, diamond-shaped gemstone embedded in the creature's chest, and though it was only a picture, I could see a dark aura pulsating from it.

But what took me off guard the most, was the creature's stone cold, soulless purple eyes.

"What, is that thing?" I asked in a slight whisper, before looking back up at the Doctor. He let out a heavy sigh and pulled the screen back towards himself.

"I don't have the slightest clue. I've never seen anything like it before. But whatever it is, it managed to rip a hole in the Time vortex and pull us through it. Whatever this creature is, it's more powerful than the TARDIS. And because of it, we were ripped from our own dimension." He said, and hung his head while resting his hands flat on the control panel.

A creature powerful enough to create a rift through dimensions, just what did the Doctor do to find something like that?

I stood silent and looked at the man in front of me, before looking down at the console and placing my hand on it. The moment it made contact I felt a warm, pulsating energy travel up my arm, sending a pleasuring shiver down my spine. I took a deep breath and felt the strange energy flow through my body, giving me a weird, yet satisfyingly warm feeling in my chest.

I opened my eyes after realizing I'd closed them, and removed my hand. The warmth disappeared, and I looked at the Doctor once more.

"Doctor, is there any way for you to go after that thing?" I asked, and he placed his head in his hands.

"No. I lost track of it when we arrived in your world, and even if I did find it, the TARDIS doesn't have enough energy to go after it." He answered before burying his face deeper in his palms.

I let out a sigh and took a step away from the console, but stopped when I suddenly heard the Doctor slam his hands down on the panel, surprising me enough to make me jump.

"Maybe she won't have to! If I recalibrate her power to a much smaller container, the energy could be strong enough to move a smaller object. That way she would still have enough power to function, maybe even restore the power she lost, and we'd be able to find a way back! Felix, you're a genius!" The Doctor said with a wide smile on his face, and without warning, he ran over and hugged me.

To say I was speechless at the sudden action would be an understatement.

"Ehm, I didn't really do anything." I said, feeling my cheeks heat up in embarrassment. The Doctor let go of me and placed his hands on my shoulders.

"Of course you did! You figured out how we'll find that thing and return to our own dimension!" He said and returned to the panel, and the instant he did so I started scratching my neck, laughing a little.

"I'm pretty sure that was all you." I said, resting my hand behind my head as he started to mixture with some stuff from the console, what it was though, I couldn't see.

"No, don't be silly! I only figured outhow to _find_ it. You'll figure out how to get it back!" He said, looking up from whatever he was doing long enough to give me a smile.

Me, however. I didn't know what to answer.

"What exactly do you mean by that, Doctor?" I asked, and I was praying that he wouldn't answer how I thought he would.

He looked up at me again.

"You're gonna have to be the one who goes after it." He said, and I could feel my jaw hit the ground. Sometimes I really hate it when I'm right.

"Wait, what?! Doctor, you can't be serious! I can't go after that, THING! I'll get killed!" I exclaim, and the Doctor walked over to lay a hand on my arm.

"I'm very serious about this, Felix. I'll never be able to take enough power from the TARDIS to move both of us and keep her going, and I'll have to keep her remaining energy stable so she doesn't lose it. You're the only one I have that can do this. If you don't, that creature will keep on destroying dimensions. Do you understand?" He said, placing his other hand on my arm and looking me straight in the eye, where I could see how much he meant every word he said.

I just stood there, dumbfounded and unsure of how to response. I mean, how _do_ you respond to something like that? The Doctor had just asked me, ME, a fifteen year old, to go after a creature that could tear through dimensions and was more powerful than the TARDIS! I was chocked to say the least, that he'd even think about sending a kid after something like that!

But at the same time, I understood completely why he did. Right now, he truly had no one else to help him. It was just him and the TARDIS, stranded in a dimension where they don't belong, and where whatever power they had is gone. I knew how much he didn't want to send me after that thing, but he really didn't have any other way to find it.

I was his only hope of returning home.

"I-I… I understand, Doctor. I'll do whatever I can to stop it." I said, and felt how a small teardrop rolled down my cheek. The Doctor lifted his hand and wiped the tear away with his thumb, pushing up my glasses in the process, before giving me a reassuring smile and pulling me into an embrace.

"Thank you." He whispered, and I could clearly hear the sorrow in his voice. I let out an awkward laugh and stepped away from him, before putting on a smile of my own.

"W-Well, I guess if I'm going, I better start packing. Who knows how long I'll be gone for." I said, and the Doctor nodded before clapping his hands together.

"Right, that might be a good idea. Though walking around with a suitcase would look absolutely ridiculous. Just hang on a second." He said before he ran down the ramp and under the platform I was standing on.

Through the glass I could see him opening a small hatch in the floor, and jumping down into it. I sat down on my knees and looked down at him, and saw how he pretty much threw out the things he didn't want or wasn't looking for. Among the stuff he tossed out were several books, clothes, small machines and many other things, and after what felt like minutes he stopped scattering things around and held up a piece of dark brown fabric.

"Ah hah! I knew it would still be here! And Amy said I never keep track of things." He said and jumped out of the floor before walking back up on the platform and handing me what he was holding.

It turned out to be some sort of shoulder bag made out of a strong, almost leather-ish fabric. The bag itself couldn't have been bigger than a laptop, I couldn't think of the exact measures, and the strap was attached to the sides with circular metal pieces. Engraved on those pieces and the front of the bag, were circle patterns that crossed themselves on many different way, and it didn't take me long to recognize it as Gallifreyan writing.

However, slowly but surely, the circles started blurring together and formed letters instead. I was so chocked I almost dropped the bag, but I quickly calmed myself down and rubbed my eyes, blinking a few times, thinking I might have imagined it.

But the text was still there.

"Doctor? This is a really nice bag and all, but what do these symbols mean?" I asked as I pushed myself up again. He looked at me for a moment before I showed him the metal pieces, and then he just laughed.

"Oh right, that. Those just some old scribbles, it doesn't really mean anything. Now, you better go and start packing. I hope to get this over with as fast as possible." He said and rubbed his hands together, almost like he was nervous over something. I looked back down at the writing, still confused over what it said or how to even pronounce it, but decided to just roll with it. The Doctor didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it, so I think it's best not to push him.

I finally slung the bag over my head and onto my right shoulder, testing it out and seeing how it fit. It was surprisingly comfortable, although it was a bit heavy, but it didn't bother me. I walked over to the double doors and turned back to the Doctor, and he gave me a smile before I exited.

* * *

So, seeing as I'll most likely be gone for a while, I guess I'll need a few things of everything. I walked into my room, and seeing my closet, I realized that I'd forgotten to close it this morning, and that almost a third of my clothes were lying spread out on the floor. Oops.

Anyways, I don't have a reason to care about that. I walked over to the scattered clothes and started picking up a bunch of different shirts, both long and short sleeved, a few flannels, some sweaters, a jacket, different length pants, a hoodie, a pair of PJs and a black wool scarf. I put all of the clothes on my bed, folding them neatly before taking off the bag from my shoulder and putting a shirt inside.

A smile crept onto my face as I did so. The bag was bigger on the inside.

"Why am I not surprised." I said to myself with a chuckle, before feeling around inside it.

On either side by the edge there were two big pockets, and under them were rows upon rows of more pockets, some smaller than others. I decided to try and organize everything when I put them inside, like having my jacket and scarf in the top left corner to make it easier to grab, to make sure I knew where everything was when I needed it. After I was done with that I put in some underwear and socks, though I made sure all of the socks looked different and mismatching. I just like it that way.

And while doing so I also decided putting on some socks right now would be a good idea, seeing as I'm pretty sure my feet will turn to ice if I don't do so soon. The pair I put on ended up being a red and purple striped on my left foot, and a blue with pink stars on my right one.

I took a step back, with my feet no longer exposed to my cold floor, which was an amazing feeling, and looked around my room, thinking about what else I should bring. First thing that popped into mind:

"Toothbrush! I'm not going anywhere without you!" I said and rushed to the bathroom, grabbing my beloved blue toothbrush and a new tube of toothpaste, and a small brush as well, before returning to my room and putting them in the right top corner next to my jacket.

After I had to replace a tooth two months because the other one died, I've been pretty much obsessed with having a good mouth hygiene, because I never want to do anything like that again.

I looked around the room again and saw the sketchpad on my desk, and I didn't even think twice before putting it and a few pencils in the bag, together with some sharpies and a bunch of sticky notes. I then spotted something out of the corner of my eye, lying under a pile of loose drawings at the end the desk.

I moved the drawings aside and found a notebook, about the size of an A4-paper, with a hard, dark blue cover. I turned the book to the front and saw that it was painted to look like a galaxy, in different shades of blue, purple, pink and white, with the word _Imagination_ written in a sleek white text. Although, I didn't recognize the handwriting, and when I thought about it, I don't think I've ever seen this book before.

I opened it up and flipped through a few pages, only to find that they were all blank, without as much as lines to cover them.

In the end, after staring at this mysterious notebook for a good minute or so, I decided to just shove it into the bag and let that be it. I slung the bag back onto my shoulder and exited the room, taking one last look at it before closing the door. I shifted my gaze to the locked door next to my own, and took a hesitant step towards it, taking in a shaky breath as I reached for the handle.

"Felix?"

I jumped and shrieked at the sudden sound of the Doctor's voice, and almost slipped once I landed back on the floor, only barely managing to reclaim my balance in time. Damn you socks!

"Are you okay up there?" He asked from down the stairs, and I almost gasped for air before I answered.

"Yeah, I'm fine! I'll be down in a sec!" I said and steadied my stance, before readjusting the bag almost falling off my shoulder. I looked back up at the door, before taking a deep breath, turning away and walking towards the stairs.

No matter how much I want to go in there, now is not the time.

When I arrived at the bottom of the stairs I saw the Doctor in the hallway, looking at the wall between the guest room and the kitchen. I wish I could say that I didn't know what he was looking at, but that'd be a lie. I knew perfectly well what it was. I slowly made my way over to him, and turned to look at the wall with him.

Hanging on the white walls in front of us was a painting, one meter in with and a half meter in height, of a burning red and golden sunset, with a city and mountains in the background, and the silhouette of a man in the foreground. The painting was in a glass frame, and in its reflection, I could see the Doctor's awed faced.

"It's a pretty painting, isn't it?" I said, nervousness clear in my voice.

"It's a beautiful painting, magnificent. Who's the artist?" He asked, never letting his eyes leave the piece of art in front of him. I feel my cheeks heating up again and I started to scratch my neck.

"Hehe. Th-That would be… me." I said, and I could see his slightly surprised expression reflected in the glass, before he turned and looked at me.

"You painted this?" He asked, and amazed look on his face, and I nodded my head slightly.

I hate it when people praise me for my art. They always say I'm a talented artist, mostly thanks to my mom always bragging about how I've been able to draw since I could hold a pen. But even if it's true to a small extent, I don't think I'm as talented as people say. It's all just thanks to training, but nobody seems to understand that, therefor they give me more praise than i actually want, and therefor I'm very self-conscious about my art.

"Y-Yeah. I-It's called _Burning Sunset_ , I painted it last summer. I kinda like it, b-but I wouldn't exactly call it "magnificent". It's not THAT good, or amazing. It could still use a little work." I said, and looked back at the painting. I guess the Doctor noticed how shy I was about my art, because he put a hand on my shoulder and made me look at him.

"Felix, there is no need to be ashamed over your art. I can see the amount of love, and heart that you put into this painting, and how much you enjoyed making it. I can see it in every brush stroke that is in this artwork, every detail and every thought. And that is why this painting IS amazing." He said, leaving me speechless.

No one had ever said anything like that to me, not even my parents. Everyone just told me how beautiful the drawings looked once they was done, and never once understood how much time and joy I put into making them. But the Doctor saw that from the very beginning, and thought that was the reason it was beautiful.

I let out a chuckle and rubbed my eye a bit, feeling how tears were threatening to fall.

"G-Geez, Doctor. You're gonna make me cry." I said and laughed a little, before giving him a smile, which he returned shortly.

"But, thank you. You're the first to say that."

"Don't mention it. Now then, do you have everything you want to bring?" He said, and I nodded, before stopping half way and realizing that I still hadn't packed shoes. I walked past the Doctor and over to the end of the hallway, where all of the shoes and coats were, and grabbed my still slightly wet converse before shoving them in the bag.

I grabbed my dark brown combat boots and slipped them on, my pant-legs getting puffed up in the process, and when that was done I reached up for my white coat. But before I could grab it however, I caught a glimpse of something moving outside the door through the small window next to it.

I took a step closer to the window and looked out, and what I saw was almost too much for me to comprehend. I opened the door and took a step outside, looking around at the trees and bushes around my street, and gasped when they suddenly grew new leafs and fruits and berries popped up on them. The leaves were all red, yellow and orange, like they were in the fall, even though it was the middle of February, and before I even had time to question what was going on, the trees changed again. All of the leafs turned an emerald green, and the fruits dropped only to be replaced by small flowers.

I tried to open my mouth and say something, but before I had the chance to, something else caught my attention. I looked up at the sky and saw something dark, what it was I couldn't tell, that looked like a small orb. However, it grew larger at a rapid paste, and before I had the time to react, the dark orb crashed into the ground right in front of my feet, the impact creating a shockwave so powerful that it sent me flying back inside the house.

The back of my head made contact with the floor, sending a wave of pain through my skull, and causing me to let out a scream. It was barely that I heard the Doctor run over to me before I felt his hands grabbing my arms, pulling me up in a sitting position, and cupping my face in his hands. Through a foggy vision I saw the Doctor looking at me, a worried and scared expression on his face.

"…Felix? Felix, are you okay? Can you hear me?" I heard him ask through the ringing in my ears, and I sucked in a deep breath before I nodded. Suddenly he wrapped his arms around me, holding me close to him with my head on his chest, before he threw himself onto the floor, taking me down with him. I heard another explosion-like sound, and saw dust around us, making me guess that something else had crashed outside the somehow still open door.

I heard the Doctor say something, although I couldn't hear what, and I was suddenly half carried half pulled up, only barely managing to grab my glasses after a few attempts, before he pretty much dragged me with him into the TARDIS, slamming the doors after him.

It took me a few seconds to find my balance again, and when I did I put my glasses back on, tried to get rid of the annoying ringing in my head, and placed a hand where I'd hit my head, trying to ease the pulsating pain.

"Wh-What was that?" I asked, and lifted my head to see the Doctor blocking the doors and shoving the coat hanger between the handles, before pushing himself up against the blocked doors, looking back to me.

"The creature sent something through the Time vortex, and whatever it is, is making this world go haywire. This dimension is starting to collapse." He said, and was suddenly thrown forwards by the doors trying to get open.

He walked over to me and grabbed my hand, before pulling me to the opposite side of the console. There, he took something out of his pocket and put it in my hand, and I looked down at it. It reminded me of a watch, put instead of a clock, there was a small screen about twice the size of my thumb. I turned it around and found two small buttons on the right side of the screen, and another Gallifreyan symbol on the backside.

The Doctor must've seen the confusion on my face, since he started to hurriedly explain it to me.

"It's a communicator, to make sure we can stay in contact when you're in the other dimensions. I also want you to take this." He said, reaching inside his jacket and pulling out his Sonic screwdriver, before giving it to me. Of course I didn't tell him that I knew what the screwdriver was, but I still couldn't help but wonder why he'd give it to me.

Suddenly the TARDIS started to shake violently, almost causing both of us to fall over, but we held onto each other to keep balance. Without another word I shoved the screwdriver into one of the top pockets, before putting the communicator on my left wrist and looking back up at the Doctor.

He was holding out something else towards me, and once the shakes tuned down enough for me to see what it was, he had already put it in my hands.

"This, is a warp star. It's filled with energy from the TARDIS, and it will help you jump through dimensions. Do not at any cost lose it!" He said, and I didn't question it as I held it closer to me.

The room started shaking again, and the Doctor went over to the panel and started flipping switches and pressing buttons, and soon there was a bright flash of light that stung in my eyes. I turned to the source of the light and saw a horizontal, glowing white crack, pulling all the air towards it and tugging at my clothes.

A sudden thought occurred to me, and I gasped.

I couldn't do this. What was I thinking? I can't go and try to fight a monster this strong! I'll be dead in a second! This is a suicide mission! I don't want to do this anymore. I can't do it. I'm… I'm…

"Doctor, I'm scared." I whisper, and I see him turn around, giving me his full attention. I look up at him, and I can feel the tears streaming down my cheeks. With no hesitation he steps over to me and pull me into a reassuring embrace, and start rubbing my back.

"It's okay, it's going to be fine. You're going to be fine. I know you can do this, Felix." He says, and pulls away to kiss my forehead, before giving me a reassuring smile.

And that was the last thing I could remember happening before everything happened in a matter of seconds. The TARDIS was shaken so violently that I was pulled away from the Doctor's comforting hug. I saw him get flung back onto the floor, before I tripped on something and fell towards the crack. I managed to look at the Doctor one last time, before feeling the warp star slip out of my grasp, hearing him screaming my name, and seeing the crack close around me.


	3. Chapter 3: We are the Crystal-

" _It's okay, it's going to be fine. You're going to be fine. I know you can do this, Felix." He says, and pulls away to kiss my forehead, before giving me a reassuring smile._

 _And that was the last thing I could remember happening before everything happened in a matter of seconds. The TARDIS was shaken so violently that I was pulled away from the Doctor's comforting hug. I saw him get flung back onto the floor, before I tripped on something and fell towards the crack. I managed to look at the Doctor one last time, before feeling the warp star slip out of my grasp, hearing him screaming my name, and seeing the crack close around me._

* * *

Panic. That was the first thing I felt once I got back to my senses. The TARDIS had been attacked, I'd lost my only way of transportation, and I'd been separated from the Doctor, without even knowing if he would be okay or not. What if he didn't get away in time? What if he'd been hurt during the attack? What if he was forced to regenerate?!

I had no way to get the answer to those questions!

My thoughts were suddenly cut off, however, when I crashed face first into something that felt like concrete, sliding a few inches.

I groaned, though it pained me to do so, and begged to God that my glasses weren't broken. I struggled to push myself up, feeling the warm and dirtied blood running down my nose and lips, and hissed in pain once I got up on my knees. I looked down and saw a black blur in front of me, and reaching for it, I realized it was my glasses. I put them on and sighed in relief when I saw that they were still intact.

I looked down at my hands and legs, and saw that my knees and palms were scratched up from the abrupt landing, with blood sipping out through the small holes in my skin.

I sighed and got myself back up on my feet, before looking down to see where I'd landed, and seeing that I was on a large circular pad, that seemed to be made out of some sort of… crystal? I looked up and gazed around the area, and found it to be eerily familiar.

I was standing in the middle of a canyon, with strange holes around the mountain faces, and weird looking drill-machines scattered around everywhere, some being injected into the mountains and some laying destroyed on the ground. I looked around the crystal pad I was standing on, and saw that it was surrounded by large gems that looked like some sort of rubies, that were almost as big as me. What crept me out the most though was the ominous aura the place radiated, that sent several chills up my spine.

I only managed to take one step forwards on the pad, before realizing that I was standing on top of an outshooting part of the mountain behind me, and that it was at least fifty feet down to the actual ground. I looked around me again, trying to find a safe way down, but when I didn't find one, I groaned. Guess there's only one way down.

I carefully sat down edge of the cliff I was standing on, making sure I wouldn't slip and fall, and took a deep breath before leaping off. I started sliding down the steep mountain wall, my feet making contact with several small stones and firing them up at my legs and face, and was forced to do everything in my power to NOT trip, 'cause if I did, it wouldn't end too well for me.

When I was almost by the bottom I launched myself off the wall and landed safely on the ground, stumbling a bit before finding my balance again, but when I did, I stood up and tried to brush some dust off of my clothes, but to little success. I looked down at my legs and saw several small cuts through the now ripped open parts of my pants legs. I sighed and looked up and around again, and saw that I was surrounded by a thin misty fog, that only succeeded in creeping me out even more.

"Hey! There's something over here!"

I jumped at the sudden exclaim, and barely had the time to land before something zoomed past my face, close enough for me to feel it tugging my hair. I looked behind me and saw a white spear, definitely longer than me, stuck in the ground. The spear had a weird light blue spiral blade, and a blue and gold pommel shaped like a star, and looked awfully familiar.

I turned my head back in the direction the spear came from when I heard something heavy hitting the ground, and I saw the silhouettes of three females in front of me.

Oh no.

"Gems, move!" One of them shouted, and two of the women jumped higher than humanly possible as the third one started throwing spears at me.

I ducked as one of them was directed right at my head, and I felt the blade of the second one cut my left arm before getting stuck in the ground beside me. I looked up and saw five more spears flying at me, but instead of avoiding them, something inside me clicked, and I launched towards them instead. I reached out for the one closest to me, and wrapped my fingers around the cold white handle, before using it to reflect the other spears away from me.

I looked up at the silhouetted woman in front of me, and saw her taking a step back, before I grabbed the spear stuck beside me and launched both of them towards her. The weapons crossed halfway before they flew right under her arms and pulled her with them into the wall of a mountain a few feet behind her. There was a huge cloud of dust forming from the impact, and I immediately felt my heart sinking from the sight.

"I'm sorry!" I shouted to her, before throwing myself to the side when I heard something crack beside me.

I turned my head and managed to get a glimpse of a dark purple, three tailed whip with amethysts embedded at the ends, before it was pulled back behind me. I turned around and saw another of the women standing a good few feet away from me, whip in hand and looking ready to lash it at me at any moment. I took a leaping step towards another spear lying before me, and taking this as an action of attack, the woman whipped said weapon in my direction.

I grabbed the spear and held it out in front of me with both hands, and as I'd hoped, the three heads of the whip wrapped themselves around the handle. I looked up at the woman and gave her an apologetic smile before, without giving her a warning, yanking the spear to the side, causing her to lose her grip on the weapon, and spinning around. I held both of my hands by the pommel, and in doing so, once I'd spun a full 360, the whip lashed back at its original wielder and wrapped around her small body. I hardened my grip on the spear and yanked it over my head, with all the power I could muster, and saw how the woman was pulled along with it, crashing down not too far from the first one.

"I'm sorry!" I shouted again, and my heart sank even more. I hope I didn't hurt them.

Suddenly something crashed into the rock beside my head, and a heavy cloud of dust fell over me, causing me to have a coughing fit and my wounds to sting. I looked up and saw a dark-cerise gauntlet in the middle of a huge crack in the stone, and turning in the direction that the weapon came from, I saw the last woman standing right in front of me.

She had a huge gauntlet on each hand, and both of them were raised above her head, ready to strike. My eyes went wide and I let out a gasp, before seeing the two weapons being thrust down towards me. And in the second I had before they'd strike, I fell backwards and held my hands over my head, as tears started falling from my eyes.

"Please, stop!"

* * *

I was waiting for something to happen. Anything. But instead there was just silence.

After what felt like hours of panic and fear, I slowly lowered my hands, and looked up at the woman in front of me. Since the dust cloud had started to ease up, I could see her almost clearly, and the look she was wearing was of pure chock. Through the pinkish-blue visor on her cerise face, I could see her eyes widening as she looked down at me, and in a flash of light the gauntlets on her hands had disappeared, revealing her dark-purple one-fingered gloves, only an inch above my head. She took a stumbling step back out of the dust, and I could see her more clearly.

Her dark-indigo afro as well as her blue and purple bodysuit, that I now saw had a dark and light pink star on its torso, were covered in dust and pebbles. She even had a small scratch on her cheek, and her bottom lip was trembling slightly as she stumbled back another step, dropping her arms to her sides.

"You're a human." She spoke in a soft and surprised voice, and since I couldn't think of anything to say, and the taste of blood in my mouth was making me sort of nauseous, I just nodded. I saw her eyes widen even more, before she suddenly hoisted me up by the arms and placed me a few feet away, a worried look visible on her face.

"I'm sorry for attacking you. I thought you were something else. Did I hurt you?" She said, still in a soft voice, but I clearly heard the worry in it. I shook my head before I answered, and wiped away some of the blood from my lips.

"No, you didn't hurt me. Most of this I got from trying to get down here." I said, and hearing this seemed to calm her down, though she still seemed uneasy when she saw my wounds. She adjusted her shades before she spoke again.

"That's good to hear. Now if you don't mind, I think we should help out my comrades." She said, and I gasped slightly before facepalming, which wasn't the best idea since it only caused more dirt to get stuck in my scratched up hands. I'd almost forgotten about those two. I nodded my head again, and we started walking towards where the other two women were.

We stopped when we saw the slender white, peach-haired woman, dressed in a light blue leotard with a small skirt, with a lighter blue ribbon around her waist, amber colored leggings and pale blue flats with pink socks under, trying to untie the smaller purple woman from her weapon. It didn't look like she was too comfortable, having her long pale-lavender hair tangled in the whip in a painful looking way. I couldn't see much of her outfit, due to being tied up, and the only this I saw was her white boots.

"C'mon P, try pulling harder!" The smaller woman said, but it only achieved in getting a groan from the other woman, and a small chuckle from myself.

"I am trying, Amethyst! But this is harder than it seems! Why can't you just retrieve the whip and get yourself out?" The taller woman said, frustrated, and I had to cover my mouth to stop myself from laughing. Again, though, bad idea, since it only bloodied down my hands and made them sting even more.

The large woman beside me seemed to notice this, and finally walked over to the other two in front of me.

"Alright, that is enough you two." She said in a stoic voice, startling her comrades a little, before she grabbed hold of the tied-up woman and ripped the whip apart. Now that she was no longer trapped in her own weapon, I could see that she was dressed in dark-lavender leggings with black stars on the knees and a matching black tank top. She set her back down on the ground, before looking both of her comrades in the face.

"We're done with the mission. Now we go back to the temple and take care of our new guest." She said, and the other two women finally turned to look at me. They looked surprised at first, but their surprise quickly shifted to apology and, in the tall white woman's case, guilt.

"Oh my stars. We attacked a human? Amethyst, why didn't you tell us!" the white woman almost shouted at the shorter one, apparently called Amethyst, but was only met with a sour look from the latter.

"Well how was I supposed to know?! I thought it was another of those freaky fusion monsters!" Amethyst almost yelled back, but unlike herself, the taller woman just scoffed before looking back at me, a sympathetic look on her face.

"And you're wounded! Please forgive me for that, I-WE had no intentions of harming or attacking you." She said, and Amethyst looked up at me as well, guilt written all over her face. I put on a warm and reassuring smile, confusing the women a little.

"It's okay, I understand that I must've startled you. Seeing anything moving in a place like this, I would've been scared witless. Besides, I attacked you too. And speaking of that, I didn't hurt any of you, did I?" I said, and the guilt on the white woman's face seemed to worsen. Amethyst on the other hand, only snorted before stepping over and giving me a light punch to the arm.

"Nah, we're tougher than we look! And hey, you shouldn't be the one apologizing! We attacked you first!" She said, and I sighed, nodding my head.

"Touché." I said, and I saw how the white woman's face started shifting from guilt to slight curiosity.

"If you don't mind me asking, how were you able to avoid our attacks? I haven't seen a human move like that before." She said, which caught me a little off guard, and I laughed before I answered.

"I honestly have no idea. I've never done anything like that before." I said, before suddenly hissing in pain as the cut on my arm started burning. I placed a hand over the wound, earning concerned looks from the three women around me, before suddenly realizing something.

"Where's my bag?" I asked, mostly to myself, and they all looked a bit confused at my sudden question, though I didn't have time to explain it to them.

I'd lost the bag too? Oh no, no no no! I can't have lost it! It can't be gone! I had THREE things that I needed to keep with me, and now two of those are gone!

I turned around and was just about to go look for it, but I didn't even have the time to take two steps before I stopped. There was a monstrous screech echoing through the canyon, seemingly coming from every direction, and whatever it was that made those noises, they sounded angry. I took a few steps back, almost bumping into Amethyst, when something suddenly jumped out right in front of me, causing me to scream.

The thing looked like a giant worm, with arms covering its entire front body and legs covering the back, and in the middle of what I assumed was the face, was a weird looking piece of crystal chards. Coming from all sides behind it was a bunch of… arms and legs, that seemed to be fused together. The sight of these things made my stomach turn, and when I tried to back away even more, they screeched at me.

I suddenly felt an arm under my knees and behind my back, and soon I found myself being picked up by the tallest of the three women, while the other two were standing in front of us with their weapons drawn. I saw a flash of light, and saw that the woman holding me had her gauntlet back on the hand she wasn't carrying me with, and when I looked up I saw a frown on her face.

"Gems, do your thing, and don't let them hurt the human!" She said in a stern voice, and the women before us nodded, before they all launched themselves at the monsters.

The white woman was the first to be attacked back by four of the monsters, but before they had a chance of hitting her, she jumped over them and rotated her body, before slicing them with her spear. The monsters disappeared in a poof of smoke, and left gem shards behind them, which the woman was quick to pick up and… bubble? She somehow formed a bubble around the shards, before it disappeared into thin air. And soon after that, more monsters jumped at her.

I turned to look at Amethyst, and saw her wrap her whip around one of the leg-hand fusions, before spinning it around and hitting the other monsters around her. These monsters poofed as well, and once they were gone, Amethyst poofed the monster in her whip before running over to help the other woman.

The woman that was holding me, however, didn't fight any of the smaller monster, but aimed for the giant one instead. She held me tighter as she jumped and slammed her gauntlet into the giant monster's back, causing it to curl back and let out a horrifying screech, which drew the attention of the other monsters. The woman holding me shifted me so I sat on her back, before there was another flash of light and a gauntlet appeared on her other hand.

"Hold on tight." She said, and I barely had the time to heed her orders before she jumped again, a LOT higher than before. I wrapped my arms and legs tighter around her and buried my face in her shoulder, though it wasn't too comfortable due to my glasses, shut my eyes closed so hard it hurt, and held my breath.

Yay, hooray for being scared of heights.

I felt how the woman started shifting her body, and suddenly we were diving back towards the ground, and when I opened my eyes slightly to try and see why, I saw the giant monster zooming towards us. I shut my eyes again just before I heard the sound of several punches and a loud cracking sound, felt a strong gust of wind around me, before I felt how we landed on the ground again. I opened my eyes and looked over the woman's shoulder pad, and saw her holding a cerise bubble with the monster's gem shards in it, before she tapped on it and it disappeared.

"Hey dude, I think this is yours!" I heard Amethyst say all of a sudden, and when I turned to look I saw her throwing my bag towards me. I couldn't help but smile widely when I caught it, feeling a huge weight lift from my shoulders, and I laughed a little before I slung it back over my shoulder. It was a little tattered, but nothing too bad, and I looked up at her and gave her a huge smile.

"Thank you!" I said, and she grinned at me, but her smile quickly disappeared when more screeches echoed through the canyon. The white woman sprinted over to the one that was holding me, spear in hand and a slight panic on her face.

"There are too many for us to fight. We have no more reason to stay here, so let's go back to the temple." She said, and looked behind her when the screeches became louder. The woman holding me turned her head and looked at me for a second, before nodding to the white woman.

"Let's go." She said, and they started running to the cliff where I'd landed.

Amethyst was running behind us, keeping an eye on the monsters that tried to chase us, and lashed her whip at them whenever they were too close. She occasionally looked up at me, grinning in a reassuring way, probably to make sure I wouldn't freak out about this whole situation, and it was sort of working. Suddenly I found myself airborne again and when I turned to look, I saw that the women had jumped up to the outshot part of the mountain I'd crashed on, and landed on the crystal pad, before there was a bright blue light and everything disappeared.

* * *

Next thing I knew, I found myself and the three women in a room that seemed to be entirely made out of a shiny sort of stone, making the walls shimmer with a pinkish light that was reflected from the crystals around the walls. My eyes widened in awe as I looked around the room, and when I turned my head I saw a light blue door with a white star on it, and on each point of the star was a differently colored crystal. Above the door was a large circular mirror, and when I lifted my gaze to the ceiling, I saw that the entirety of it was made from the same stone as the walls and shone in a blue and purple light as well, and there was large crystals shooting down and glowing with a dim light.

To say I was stunned wouldn't be an understatement.

"Yay, you guys are finally back! I was starting to get worried, you never take that long on a mission-huh?" I turned my head in the direction of the sudden voice, and found it belonged to a young boy that looked to be no more than 10.

He was shorter than Amethyst, or at least it looked like it, and had curly dark-brown hair and big dark eyes. He was wearing a reddish pink T-shirt with a yellow star on it, blue jeans and sandals that matched his shirt. He was looking at me with large eyes and his mouth was slightly ajar, like he was trying to say something but couldn't find the right words.

The woman that was holding me started to gently set me down on the floor, which I realized was a crystal pad that looked exactly like the one from before, say for being surrounded by small blue crystals instead of large red ones, before looking at the boy with a smile.

"Sorry for worrying you, Steven. We didn't mean to take so long, but there was a sudden change of plans." She said, as the other two women started to walk over to the boy, and placed a hand on my shoulder. Her palm felt strangely… I guess the best word to describe it is 'hard'. It felt as though she had a rock where her palm should be, and it was emitting a cold aura onto my arm.

I looked at the boy again and gave him a smile, waving my hand a little. The three women went over to stand behind him, leaving me alone on the pad, and they all gave me patient smiles. I took in a deep breath.

"Ehm, hi. I don't think we actually did introduce ourselves, did we? My name's Felix. Guess I should thank you for saving me back there." I said, and scratched my neck a little. This was so awkward.

"So who, or what, are you exactly?" I asked, praying that the question wouldn't offend them. To my surprise, however, this question seemed to catch the boy's interest, and he beamed the brightest of smiles while bouncing a little.

"We're the Crystal Gems! I'm Steven, and this is Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst! They're rebels from another world and together we fight evil gem monsters and protect the planet from evil and stuff like that!" He said, his voice bubbling with happiness and his eyes star filled.

On the outside, I must've looked confused as heck, because I could see Amethyst trying to hold back her laughter. But on the inside, I was mentally slapping myself for not having realized it sooner.

I was in the world of Steven Universe! How did I not notice that?! They were standing right in front of me the whole time, gems visible and all! How did I not see them?! Pearl has it on her forehead, Amethyst on her chest and Garnet on her hands, and they were RIGHT there!

"Now, now, Steven. Maybe we shouldn't rush with the introductions like this, he seems to get confused about it." Pearl said, snapping me out of whatever state I was in, before she looked back at me with a warm smile. I smiled back and scratched my neck again, seeing how this only got more awkward every second.

"N-No no, I think I got it. So, you're beings from another world that protects this planet from evil, gem monsters? Is that what those things from before were?" I said, and Garnet nodded, giving me a sideways smile.

"That's right. And speaking of, how did you end up in that place? No human should be able to go there." She said, and the others looked at her for a brief moment before looking back at me, curious and almost suspicious looks on their faces. I looked away, feeling smaller under their gazes, and rested my hand on my neck.

How the heck do I explain my situation to them?! I mean seriously, how do I explain that I'm from another dimension where their entire existence is just a show on TV?!

I sighed and looked back at them, clearing my throat a little before answering Garnet's question. Here goes nothing.

"Well, you see-" I started, but had to cut myself off when my arm suddenly started vibrating. The gems looked just as confused as I felt, and when I looked down I saw the screen on the communicator around my wrist glowing, and after I'd quickly pressed top button, the Doctor's face appeared on the screen.

I was so happy that I couldn't help but laugh when I saw him, earning even more confused looks from the gems. The Doctor had a few scratches on his face, and it looked like he had smoke in his hair, but other than that he seemed fine, and he looked like he was just as relieved as I was when he saw me.

"Doctor?! Oh gosh, are you okay?! What happened to you? What the heck happened to the TARDIS? Is it okay? Are you hurt?" I asked all these questions at once, but he only laughed and smiled at me.

"We're both fine. What about you? You look hurt. Are you okay? Are you in a safe place?" He said, worry clear in his voice, and I just nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just had a rough landing. But I lost the warp star, and as far as I know, I don't have another way out of this dimension." I said, and he got a troubled look on his face, and I couldn't help but feeling that losing the warp star wasn't our only problem right now.

"I know, and I'm sorry about that. But for now, maybe it's for the best that you don't come back here." He said, and I felt my stomach churn. Why did I always have to be right about these things?

"Why not? What's wrong?" I asked, and he sighed. I really started to get a bad feeling about this.

"Your dimension is gone. It completely collapsed in on itself. I barely managed to escape after you left, but that last travel took away all of the TARDIS's energy. And now, we're stuck in a pocket-dimension." He said, and I'm sure I was standing with my mouth wide open.

My dimension's gone? My home's gone?! My parents, my family, my friends, my life… It's all gone. And not just that, but the Doctor's stuck between two dimensions and unable to escape.

I took a stumbling step backwards, almost tripping on my own feet, and took in a shaky breath.

"Is there any way to fix this?" I asked, and he dragged his hand over his face.

"I'm not sure. But if you find the creature and destroy it, then maybe there is a chance that time will fix itself and bring your dimension back." He said, and I smiled. I knew that there was a high chance of this maybe not even working, but I didn't care. There was a possibility for me to save my home.

"Then I will do whatever it takes to do so. I'll find the creature and defeat it, and I will fix all of this." I said, and he got a small smile back on his face.

"I know you will. I'll have to go now, the TARDIS needs to save up on its energy. Good luck, Felix."

And with that, the screen cut to black, and the air was filled with an awkward silence once again. I looked back up at the gems, and they were all looking at me with wide eyes. Suddenly the stars in Steven's eyes returned, and he brought his hands up and placed them on his cheeks, his mouth agape.

"You're from another world?" He asked in awe, his voice almost a whisper, and I let out a chuckle before nodding at him.

"That's right." I said, and the stars in his eyes got brighter. God, he was so adorable.

"Wait, so that means you don't have anywhere to stay?" He said, taking me a little off guard. Well, that question came out of the blue. But then again, I guess that's something Steven would be the first to think about.

"I guess." I said, and he smiled widely before turning to Garnet, who'd been standing silent this whole time. She softened her chocked look into a small smile as she looked down at Steven, and crouched down a little to look him in the face as he spoke.

"Can he stay here?! There aren't any other places he could go, and he's still hurt and might need help to heal his wounds! Please?!" He asked, and Garnet chuckled a little, and through her visor I saw her looking up at me.

"Why don't you ask him?" She said, and Steven didn't hesitate to walk over to me and look up at me with the brightest puppy-dog eyes I'd ever seen.

"Do you want to stay here with us until you go? We could go to the Arcade, the Big Donut, Beach City Funland, and we could-"

"Steven, calm down." I said, interrupting him as he kept on rambling, and placed my hands on his shoulders, kneeling down to his level.

"So, what do you say?" He asked, and I smiled sweetly at him.

"Seeing as I really don't have anywhere else to go, and it seems that the other gems are okay with it, then yes. I'd love to stay here with you all."


	4. Chapter 4: Welcome to Beach City!

" _Do you want to stay here with us until you go? We could go to the Arcade, the Big Donut, Beach City Funland, and we could-"_

" _Steven, calm down." I said, interrupting him as he kept on rambling, and placed my hands on his shoulders, kneeling down to his level._

" _So, what do you say?" He asked, and I smiled sweetly at him._

" _Seeing as I really don't have anywhere else to go, and it seems that the Gems are okay with it, then yes. I'd love to stay here with you all."_

* * *

"And there we go." I told myself as I placed my now ripped skinny-jeans in the bag, together with my other dirty clothes, before slinging the bag back onto my shoulder, and putting the communicator on my wrist again.

The Gems had requested that I use the shower to clean myself of all the dust and blood, and I had gladly accepted, wanting nothing more than for my wounds to stop stinging due to being dirty. And after that was done, I'd quickly pulled out some clean clothes from my bag and put them on, before looking myself in the mirror.

My new outfit consisted of a pale-yellow T-shirt, a pair of loose black shorts that ended right under my knees, one pink sock with yellow stripes and a red one with black dots, and my converse. I smiled to myself in the mirror, being happy with the outfit I'd chosen, and turned to exit the familiar yet unfamiliar bathroom.

Of course I'd seen it on the show, so I knew exactly how it would look, but just like with the TARDIS, it's just sort of overwhelming to actually see it in real life and not in 2D on a computer screen. Even if it was just a bathroom.

Once I stepped outside the door I almost had a heart attack when I saw Steven standing right beside it, and I had to place a hand over my chest just to calm myself down. This got a small smile and an apologetic look from Steven, and a loud chuckle from Amethyst, who I realized was sitting on the counter of the kitchen, eating what looked like a sauce-dipped chicken leg.

"Heh, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Steven said, but I only smiled at him. Gosh he's so adorable.

"Don't worry, you didn't _scare_ me as much as you surprised me." I said, and hearing that, he gave me a small smile. That's when I noticed that he was holding something in his hands.

"So, watcha got there?" I asked, and he made a small O-shape with his mouth before glancing down at his hands for a second and then back up at me, his smile having faltered ever so slightly.

"Right! Pearl wanted me to give these to you, to help you patch up your… wounds." He said, and I couldn't help but notice the slight... well, not disgust, but something simillar when he said the last word. I guess I understood why he didn't like that word, seeing as I know how much he cared about those around him, and how he'd never want to see anyone hurt.

But my smile never faltered as I took the objects from him and looked them over, seeing him smile a bit wider out of the corner of my eye. The objects were just two simple boxes of colorful plasters, and… eight rolls of bandages? I snorted a little, earning a small chuckle from Steven, and I saw his cheeks redden a little.

"Yeah, I tried to tell Pearl that one roll would be enough, but I guess she felt bad about whatever happened back in Kindergarten." He said, and I laughed before shaking my head a bit.

"It's okay, I get it. It must've looked much worse when I was dirty than it actually was." I said, and glanced down at my legs.

Once all the blood had been washed away, the cuts didn't look too bad. The ones on my lower legs, which there were about twenty of, whereas only seven of them had been deep enough to actually draw blood, only looked like small scratches. My knees, however, didn't exactly have the same luck. My left knee looked fine, although a bit red, and had only had a few layers of skin scratched off. But my right one had been bleeding a lot, and there were still a few small drops of blood forming on it even now.

My palms on the other hand, pun definitely intended, were looking a lot worse. They stung whenever I tried to hold something or close my hands, and were both completely red and swollen. And the palm on my left hand was all scratched up and still bleeding a bit, but none of these wounds compared to the gash under my shoulder. It was constantly burning, and felt like it was getting bigger every time I tried to move my arm. But I wouldn't let my pain show in front of Steven or the Gems, since I knew how bad they already felt about all of this.

"You sure? Because, they looked pretty bad before, and-"

"Hey, don't worry about it! I'll just make sure to patch them up real tight and then there won't be any more reason to worry about them. I'll be fine, Steven." I said, interrupting the young boy when I saw him looking like he was about to cry, and put my not-as-damaged hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me, and a smile was forced onto his face when he saw me struggling to hold all the bandages with only one hand, and soon we were both laughing at it.

Without really saying anything, we walked back into the bathroom and placed the medical equipment on the sink. I sat down on the side of the bathtub while Steven placed himself on the floor in front of me, for whatever reason, and I started to wrap one of the bandages around my right knee. When I'd fastened it I reached for another one and wrapped it tightly around my arm, having to ask Steven for help to make sure it was tied hard enough to _knot_ undo itself, before taking a third roll and beginning to wrap it around my hand.

"So… how exactly did you end up here?" Steven asked all of a sudden, and I looked up at him, giving him a confused look.

"Huh?" I asked, and he lowered his head into his shoulders, like he thought he'd said something wrong, but he continued anyways.

"Well, I kinda got the whole _coming from another universe_ part, but how did that happen in the first place?" He said, and I fastened the bandage on my hand before I pushed up my glasses and placed it over my mouth to think. What would be the easiest way to explain this to him without making it too complicated?

"Hm. Well, it started when the Doctor, the man I was talking with before, crashed his time-space-machine-ship in my home. He'd been chasing a creature with no name through something called a Time vortex, a sort of tunnel that can send you through time and space. You understand?" I said, while grabbing one of the plaster-boxes and pulling one out, and he nodded his head slowly.

"Yeah, I think so." He said, and I smiled, placing the plaster on my leg, and continued.

"This creature, let's just call it DEX in the future, made a hole in the Time vortex and pushed the Doctor's spaceship through it. That's how he landed in my world." I grabbed another plaster and looked at Steven to make sure he wasn't confused. "When it did, the spaceship lost almost all of its power and wasn't able to work anymore. So the Doctor needed to stay in it to make sure its remaining power wouldn't go away, and that's why he sent me here. I was the only one who could help him, since he wasn't in his own world anymore. To do that, he used something called a warp star, a small object that was filled with the spaceship's energy, to open up a sort of portal that led to this world. And that's how I got here." I said, and placed a fourth plaster on my leg.

Steven looked a little confused, and took a minute to go over what I'd said, furrowing his brows as he did. In that time I patched up a few more of the scratches, including my left knee, and placed one last plaster on a small scratch on the bridge of my nose. My lower legs were now covered in seven colorful plasters, two green, two blue, one red, one yellow and one pink, and I had three more purple ones on my knee and a small red one on my nose.

"So, if you got here because of a portal that could've sent you anywhere, why did you end up in Kindergarten?" He suddenly asked, and I placed my hand on my face again. That was a good question. Why did I land in Kindergarten if I could've ended up literally anywhere else in this dimension?

"I guess that was just a coincident. Maybe it's because the portal knew that's where the Gems were, I don't really know. But honestly, I'm glad that's where I landed. Who knows what would've happened if the Gems hadn't found me." I said, and smiled brightly at the young boy. He looked worried for a short second, before returning the smile and pushing himself up from his sitting position. I stood up as well and grabbed the remaining medical supplies from the sink, before we exited the bathroom again and walked the short way over to the living room.

I saw Amethyst still sitting in the kitchen, but now she was done eating the chicken and was trying to eat a box of tea-bags, which looked absolutely ridiculous, and the sight caused me to snort. She seemed to notice, and turned to look at me, a wide grin plastered on her face. I didn't have the time to say anything to her before I heard the door to the temple open beside me, and when I turned to look, I saw Pearl and Garnet leave the Burning room. When Pearl looked up at me she immediately hurried over and grabbed the items from my hands.

"Oh my. Haha, you were right Steven. Eight rolls of bandages might have been a little too much." She said, and both Steven and I laughed, causing her to blush a light blue.

"Like I said before, it's okay. I get that it must've looked a lot worse, but I'm fine. No need to worry." I said and gave her a warm smile. "But, thank you for your concern. I really appreciate it."

The blue on her cheeks turned a few shades darker as she let out a nervous laugh, before turning her head away to avoid my gaze, which only caused me to laugh again. This even got a small chuckle out of Garnet, before she turned to Steven, a sideways smile on her face.

"So, Steven. Have you thought of where to take Felix to start his tour around the city?" She asked, but before he could answer, a loud rumbling noise sounded through the room, and the Gems all turned their gaze towards me. I could feel my cheeks heating up, and I started scratching my neck.

"Dude, was that your stomach?" Amethyst asked while trying the best she could to not laugh out loud, and I let out a chuckle, nodding my head. I hadn't realized until now how hungry I actually was, and that my stomach was aching for something to eat.

"Yeah, I forgot I hadn't eaten anything all day." I said, before looking at Steven, who was standing behind me, trying to hold back his laughter as well. By now my cheeks were burning a bright red, and the skin on my neck was hurting a little from scratching my nails against it. "You said something about a, big donut, before. That doesn't sound too bad right now."

When I said that, Steven's eyes lit up again, and he nodded his head vigorously.

"That's the best place to start! I'll just grab my phone and then we can go!" he said before he hurried up the small staircase to his 'room'. The Gems and I all let out a chuckle, before I turned to look at them, and that's when I realized something.

I don't understand how I hadn't seen until now, how realistic they actually looked. I know it sounds weird, but right now, when I see them with my own two eyes, they look just like real people. I could clearly see the curls in Garnet's cube-shaped afro, the seams on her jumpsuit, how well built her body was, and how her shades shifted between light pink and blue. I saw how Pearl's hair was twisted to hold its usual fashion, how the ribbon around her waist was kept in one large bow instead of two, and how her usually beak-like nose was more rounded than pointy. I could see the faded freckles on Amethyst's cheeks, the small tears on her clothes, and how her long lavender hair was in no way taken care of and full of small knots and tangles.

I managed to see all of this in only a few seconds, before the Gems in front of me turned their attention back to me, and my smile widened ever so slightly.

"Thank you so much for letting me stay here, even though we practically just met less than half an hour ago." I said, and Pearl let out a small laugh.

"Well, it would be uncivilized to do otherwise. Besides, we do owe you at least this much for the, ehm… inconvenience, from before." She said, and I couldn't help but sigh a little. Pearl wouldn't let that go, huh?

"Yeah! We couldn't just leave you out there to fight for yourself, so what else were we supposed to do?!" Amethyst said, and I tried to hold back a snort at the look Pearl was giving her.

"Although, there are still a few things you have yet to explain about all this." Garnet said, and I could see the slightly sceptic look in her eyes behind the shades. I chuckled.

"Yeah, I know, and I promise I'll tell you everything as soon as I can." I said, and suddenly Steven ran back down the stairs and grabbed my arm, and before I had any time to react, he started dragging me out the house.

Once I stepped outside the door of the beach house, I was met with a warm gentle breeze and the strong smell of sea salt, and was forced to shield my eyes from the bright light of the sun. I heard the sound of creaking wood under my soles when we started going down the stairs, and soon we were jogging through the sand of the beach. I turned my head back to the house and saw the Gems standing in the doorway, big smiles on their faces.

"Make sure to be back before it gets too dark! And promise to call if anything happens!" Pearl said, and Steven looked back at her and gave her a bright smile.

"Promise!" He said, and I saw Amethyst jump up on the railing of the terrace, leaning a good half a meter over the side of it.

"And bring back something for me, won't ya?! I'm starving over here!" She said, and I could see the irritation and disgust on Pearl's face when she did, which caused me to laugh.

"Will do!" I answered, and saw Garnet walking over to the top of the stairs before grinning hugely.

"And make sure to have fun!" She said, giving two thumbs up, and Steven and I gave each other a smile before laughingly answering in unison.

"We will!"

* * *

Finally after a few minutes of jogging we'd arrived in front of the Big Donut, and even through the closed doors of the blue and pink roofed building, I could smell the sweet scent of the pastries inside. Steven finally let go of my arm when he opened the bakery's glass door, and I started rubbing the reddening area he'd been holding. For being so small, he sure had a strong grip. But, then again, he is half Gem, so that's only to be expected.

I entered the building a few seconds after him, and I was hit in the face with the warm smell of the baked goods, and I felt my mouth watering as I breathed in deeply.

I looked around the small shop to try and take my thoughts away from the goods in front of me, and saw a few small tables placed near the windows, a bunch of vending machines, coolers and product posters of different kinds lining the walls enough to completely cover them, and tons of baked goods being placed within glass doors behind the counter. Also standing behind the counter was a short blonde woman wearing a purple T-shirt with a donut on the front, whom I immediately recognized as Sadie, and looking closely at her, I saw a small scar on her right cheek. That just further confirmed that whenever I am in this world, it's at least after _Jail Break_ in the show, since Garnet had her new form.

All of a sudden, Sadie turned her head up towards Steven, and gave him a bright smile.

"Hi Steven! I haven't seen you here in a while." She said, before she glanced up at me, and I saw her cheeks being dusted with a light shade of pink, her smile quivering ever so slightly. "Who's your new friend?"

I gave her a warm smile and walked over to the counter, before holding out my hand for her to shake.

"I'm Felix. It's nice to meet you…?" I said, and Sadie shook her head a little before grabbing my hand and shaking it, the pink on her cheeks fading.

"Sadie! Sadie Miller. So, how long have you been in Beach City? I don't think I've seen you around before." She said, and I laughed a little, trying to buy myself a few seconds to make up an explanation. Though to my surprise, Steven was actually the one who answered her question.

"That's because he just got here a few hours ago! He's my cousin, and he'll be staying with me and the Gems until he goes back home in a few days!" He said, and looked up at me with a wide toothy smile. I was a little taken aback by his answer, and the fact that he had pretty much lied Sadie right in the face, but I quickly laughed it off and ruffled his curly hair, making it look even messier. I quickly mouthed a small _thank you_ , and he responded with a wink.

"I didn't know you had any cousins, Steven. I thought you only had the Gems and your dad taking care of you." Sadie said, and this time I looked up at her and made sure to be the one answering.

"Well, it's understandable if he's never told anyone about me. Last time I saw him he was just a baby, so it's not so surprising that he didn't even know about me until earlier today. And the trip down here isn't exactly one you'd make every weekend, so this is the first time we've seen each other in years." I said, and glanced down at Steven, seeing him nod his head.

"Well then, welcome to Beach City, Felix! So, would you two like to buy something?" She asked, and I looked back up at the stored pastries behind the counter.

There were so many kinds of donuts, croissants, cupcakes and buns that I could barely count them all. There were glazed donuts, chocolate donuts, pink frosted sprinkled donuts, crullers, French crullers, long johns, donuts with different fillings, cinnamon rolls, chocolate rolls, plain croissants, croissants with chocolate on them, croissants with nuts on them, and cupcakes with so many different shades of icing and toppings that I couldn't name them all. I could feel myself drooling at the sight of the pastries, and I could almost taste the smell that was coming from them.

"Felix?"

I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Steven say my name, and I shook my head before looking down at him, placing a hand on my neck.

"Sorry, I wasn't really paying attention. What was it?" I said, and I saw both Steven and Sadie trying, and mostly failing, to hold back their laughter.

"He asked you what you'd like to order." Sadie answered, holding a paper bag with the store's logo on it, and he nodded his head.

"Oh, no, I couldn't ask you to pay for me." I said, and the young boy frowned a little.

"But you don't have any money of your own, and I don't want to buy anything if you can't have something too. Besides, you should really eat something! Back home your stomach sounded like a crumbling mountain!" He said, pouting. I sighed, chuckled a little, and admitted defeat since I knew this wouldn't be a fight I'd be able to win.

"Fine. In that case, I think I'll go for a chocolate donut." I said, and Sadie swiftly grabbed two of said pastries with a tong before putting them in the paper bag and rolling it up, placing it on the counter.

"That will be 6.49." She said, and Steven reached in his pocket before pulling out the right amount of money and handing it to her. In return she handed the bag to Steven, and with smiles on our faces, we turned to exit the Big Donut, waving at Sadie before closing the glass door behind us.

* * *

After we'd made a good amount of distance between us and the shop, I looked down at Steven, a smirk on my face.

"Why did you tell her that I was your cousin? I don't know why, but you don't seem like someone who'd lie to people." I said, and he laughed nervously, rubbing his arm a little.

"I just thought that it would be easier than trying to explain that you're from another world. I didn't really think of it as lying, just… not telling the whole truth." He said, and I could help but laugh at the innocence of his answer. He looked a little confused for a second, but soon he started laughing with me, and we kept on laughing for a good minute.

Once we'd finally calmed down enough from our small laughing-fit, I felt Steven taking my hand and pulling me towards a bench a few feet in front of us on the other side of the wooden sidewalk, before plopping down on it and leaning back on the backrest. I did the same only seconds later, and relaxed into the surprisingly not-too-uncomfortable wooden bench, while sucking in a deep breath, tasting the salty and sweet summer air.

I looked around us, and took in the scenery, smiling brightly as I did. Behind us was the beach, its soft white sand shimmering in the sunlight, while being washed over by the clear blue water of the ocean, and I spotted a few green bushes of some kind growing close to where we sat. When I turned my gaze to what was in front of us, I found myself looking through the windows of Funland Arcade, seeing the many machines and games lighting up the interior of the building, and all the people playing them.

I looked to the right of the arcade, and saw Beach City-walk Fries, Fish Stew Pizza, some sort of fish store and the T-shirt Shop all lined up along the sidewalk, with many customers walking in and out of said stores. Turning to the left, I only saw a small ice cream shop named Cone 'n' Son, and a building that for some reason reminded me of a sort of Visitor Center, both of which had people crowding outside the doors.

"So, what do you think of the city?" Steven suddenly asked, his voice having a happy and curious tone to it, and I looked down at him, my smile still as bright as before.

"This place is amazing. It's just so warm, and friendly, and… I don't know how to describe it." I answered, and it was true. For some reason this place, this city, this _world_ , just filled my chest with the feeling of warmth, and it was almost impossible for me to not smile when I looked at all the happy people around me.

He laughed a little before opening up the paper bag and taking out one of the chocolate donuts he'd bought, before handing it to me and grabbing one for himself, taking a huge bite of it and smiling widely as he chewed. I looked down at the donut, seeing the chocolate already starting to melt against my fingertips due to the heat outside, and brought it up to my mouth, before taking a large bite.

I could feel Steven's gaze on me as my eyes widened, and I quickly brought a hand up to cover my mouth as I chewed the sweet treat, the dough falling apart between my teeth and the chocolate melting on my tongue. I swallowed, and looked down at the almost worried expression of the boy next to me, before smiling wider than I think I had all day, and laughed.

"That was the most delicious sweet I've ever had." I said, and the smile he'd previously worn quickly returned as we both continued to snack on the amazing tasting treats in our hands.

Once I'd finished mine, I licked the remaining chocolate off my fingertips, savoring the taste of it, before seeing Steven reach back into the bag between us and taking out two more doughnuts, these two being covered with pink frosting and sprinkles. He reached out and gave one to me, before biting down on his own and leaning back on the backrest again, and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I thought you only bought those two chocolate ones?" I said, smirking a bit. He looked back at me, shaking his head a little before sitting back up, swallowing the piece he was currently chewing.

"Amethyst said she wanted something too, right? So I thought I'd buy the _Break-up_ combo, and that'd give us eight donuts to split between us! Besides, if I'd only bought two of them, and you'd still feel hungry after only one, you wouldn't be able to have more!" he answered, a bright smile on his face.

I could do nothing else but smile warmly at him, ruffling his hair a little as he giggled, before I looked back down at my second treat and took a bite of it. I smirked to myself and enjoyed the feeling of the sugar-filled capsules that covered the donut crunching between my teeth, making satisfying sounds in my head.

Once I'd swallowed the last piece of the baked good, I leaned back and let out a heavy sigh, taking in the sunlight that washed over the small city. I closed my eyes and relaxed, resting my arms over the backrest, and basked in the warm light that shone upon me.

I soon felt something lean against the left side of my chest, pulling at the strap of the bag resting on my shoulder, and when I cracked an eye open to see what it was, I saw Steven resting his head on me. I smiled gently and let my arm fall down over his shoulder, pulling him ever so slightly closer to me, before I closed my eye again.

"Felix, is it okay if I ask you something?" He piped up a minute or so later, and I felt his head shift, and when I looked again I saw him looking up at me. I chuckled a little, sitting up a bit, still resting my arm on his shoulder.

"Go right ahead, ask me anything you wish to know." I said, a smirk playing on my lips. He smiled a bit, laughing a little, and nodded his head, making his curly hair bounce up and down. But when he stopped, he almost looked like he regretted asking, and averted eye contact when he finally spoke.

"Where… h-how did you get those scars?" He asked, still not daring to look me in the eye. I was so genuinely surprised by his question that I physically leaned back, causing Steven's shoulders to drop when I did so.

Out of everything that I had expected him to ask, this had been nowhere near one of those questions. I thought he'd ask me what my world was like, if it was different from his, or maybe even if I had a family, but not this. Although, I honestly understood why he'd ask about them, since they were so clearly visible and outstanding.

I reached up and touched my right cheek, feeling the fairly deep, thin and jagged gash that dug into my skin, and traced my finger along it down to my chin and side of my throat. I let my hand rest there, even if the scar continued down the right side of my collarbone before ending, and continuing in another scar an inch to the left, running down to the front of my waist. There was another similar scar along the outside of my right arm, beginning right under my shoulder and ending in the middle of my forearm, but that one was almost always covered by whatever shirts I wore.

When I didn't answer Steven's question, I felt his shoulders drop even further, before he started to shake my hand off his arm and try to scoot away from me.

"I-I'm sorry I asked… I understand if you don't want to-"

"When I was younger, around seven I think, if my memory doesn't fail me…" I said, cutting him off and steadying my grip on his arm, without pulling him back towards me. When I finally spoke, I could feel his eyes back on me, and I continued with a sad smile on my lips.

"I was in an accident. From what I can remember, I'd been watching TV, and it suddenly started malfunctioning and turned itself off. Not knowing what else I was supposed to do, since my parents wouldn't come home for another hour, I went to bed. But not too long after I'd fallen asleep, I woke up to the smell of smoke, and saw that my room was completely filled with it, making breathing pretty much impossible. I hurried to the door, trying to escape the smoke and thinking thatmaybe it would stay in there, but as soon as I opened it I saw that the whole livingroom was on fire."

I stopped talking for a moment, unsure of how or if I wanted to continue the story. Was I going to tell it like it was, or is this not the time for it? I could just as well stop here, and let that be it. I sucked in a deep breath, calming my racing heart, and shakily let it out again.

"In my scared and panicked state, I somehow managed to get out of my bedroom, and did the best I could to not set myself on fire as I tried to get to the staircase across from me. But before I even got halfway there, part of the ceiling gave in and fell on top of me."

I felt Steven's arm tense up, and my stomach turning at the memory, and I pulled him closer to me when I remembered what happened next. I felt my cheeks heating up, my eyes beginning to water, and I had to choke back tears as I continued.

"The people at the hospital then told me that thanks to the parts that trapped me, I was unharmed by the flames, but I had lost consciousness due to the lack of oxygen. I didn't wake up for another two days, but when I did, bandages were covering the cuts I got when the firefighters tried to pull me out of the rubble, and I had no memory of what had happened after I blacked out." I finished, my voice quivering ever so slightly, and quickly wiped my tears before they had the chance to fall. I hated that I chose to lie to Steven, it left a bad taste in my mouth to do so, but I don't think he'd be able to handle the truth if I told him what really happened. I don't think _I'd_ be able to handle talking about it, either.

Suddenly, I felt his arms wrap around my torso, and his face pressing into my side, wetting my shirt a bit. I looked down at him, once again placing my arm around his shoulder before pulling him into a hug, resting my head atop of his and letting out a shaky sigh.

After what felt like a minute, I gently rubbed his arm, before pulling away and giving him a warm smile, wiping away the small tear that rolled down his cheek with my thumb.

"Hey, don't cry. I'm fine now, aren't I? There's no reason for you to be sad, so you better cheer up before I make you!" I said, a smirk forming on my lips as I started poking his sides, forcing him to smile and let out a loud series of laughters. I'm sure that if he'd kept being sad, I would definitely have started crying as well, but I was not about to let that happen.

"Okay, okay! Not sad, really laghy, pl-please, I-I can't-" He mangaed to get out between his laughs, tears now streaming down his face for another reason than before, and I quickly stopped poking him, giving him enough time to calm himself down, before pulling him into a hug which he seemed more than happy to return.

I smiled into his hair, closing my eyes before letting out a soft sigh.

I think I might really like staying in this dimension.


	5. Chapter 5: Dance at the Arcade

_"Hey, don't cry. I'm fine now, aren't I? There's no reason for you to be sad, so you better cheer up before I make you!" I said, a smirk forming on my lips as I started poking his sides, forcing him to smile and let out a loud series of laughters. I'm sure that if he'd kept being sad, I would definitely have started crying as well, but I was not about to let that happen._

 _"Okay, okay! Not sad, really laghy, pl-please, I-I can't-" He mangaed to get out between his laughs, tears now streaming down his face for another reason than before, and I quickly stopped poking him, giving him enough time to calm himself down, before pulling him into a hug which he seemed more than happy to return._

 _I smiled into his hair, closing my eyes before letting out a soft sigh._

 _I think I might really like staying in this dimension._

* * *

" _Player 1, wins_!" the machine stated for what felt like the 100th time today, making me groan and throw my hands up in defeat, wich wasn't the smartest move as it sligthtly pulled on the still bandaged wound on my arm, causing me to wince a little. Steven didn't seem to notice, however, as he started dancing a funny little victory dance, smiling like an idiot and laughing.

About maybe two hours ago after we'd finished eating, Steven had suggested we'd go to the arcade, and seeing as it was literally only a few feet in front of us, and because I haven't been to an arcade in ages, I said that it was a great idea and agreed. And that's when it started. The rivalry between me, and Steven Universe.

Of course it wasn't a serious rivalry, it was more like the sort you'd have with your sibling, and the one I'd had with my cousins and friends more times than I can remember. We'd decided after the first game, that had reminded me an awful lot of _Mortal Kombat_ , but more kid friendly, that it would be fun to turn every two-player game into a small competition to see who's better. In the beggining I wasn't really taking it seriously, playing the games and showing off my skills, but still letting Steven win most of the times, just because I felt like it was the right thing to do. But as we progressed through the games, I slowly but surely realized that even when I was trying to win, Steven would still beat me.

Which is why now, after our third time playing _Teens of Rage_ , I had to let myself take a seat towards the nearby wall, to make sure I wouldn't break something out of frustration. I sucked in a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and sighed. The simple action felt like it cleaned my head a little, and I couldn't stop myself from smiling when I saw Steven sit down next to me, still a wide grin on his face.

"So, that would be 28 for me, and... 16 for you. Wow, I don't want to sound rude, but you're really bad at fighting games." he said, looking at me with a slightly sympathetic look. I sighed again, resting my hand on my neck as I let out a light chuckle.

"Yeah, I know. My cousins tell me that everytime we go to the arcade. I guess these sorts of games just aren't for me." I said, smiling at him.

"Then, what games do you like?" he asked, a curious look on his face, and I didn't have to think for too long before I answered.

"I actually enjoy playing rythm-games. Back home we had a game called _Just Dance_ , a sort of dancing-game where you had to move in sync with the dance of the song you chose. The only ones who were better at that game than me were my two best friends, Hannah and Angelica, but that's because they were dancers, so I still beat everyone else whenever they competed against me." I answered, a sad smile on my face as I thought of my friends.

Who knew what had happened to them back home. Had they just ciesed to exist, or were they sent somewhere else, and were still alive? The Doctor just said that my dimension's gone, and that it collapsed, but he never said it got destroyed, so maybe there's a chance that it's still out there somewhere...

"Hey, I think there's actually a game sort of like that in the back of the Arcade, but I think the name's different." He said, resting a finger to his lips as he spoke, like he wasn't really sure about what he was saying. I didn't pay too much attention to that though, and instead almost shot off the floor in excitement, grinning widely at Steven, who looked more than surprised at my sudden change in demeanor.

"Why didn't you tell me this place had a dancing-game?!" I asked, the happiness in my voice causing a few of the kids around us to look in our direction, and to both of our surprise, one of the girls next to us answered.

"Because no-one's allowed to play it." she stated, and her friend nodded, a solemn look on her face.

I could feel my eyebrows furrowing into an expression that matched my confusion, and I turned back to look at Steven, who had a weird look of disgust and sadness on his face, which didn't at all seem to fit with his usually happy-go-lucky personality. Seeing this look on Steven's face made me realize that this couldn't be anything good, so I kneeled down in front of him before I asked.

"Is that why you didn't tell me? I understand that you didn't if that's the reason, but I don't think it's enough reason to be upset." I said, cocking my head slightly to try and look him in the eye. He pulled his knees to his chest, and his face turned almost angry.

"No, it's not. But the reason why we can't play it is just so stupid and selfish that it upsets me." he answered honestly, a sour tone in his voice as he did. His answer just confused me even more, so I sat down and crossed my legs before resting my hands in my lap.

"And what would that reason be?" I asked, gently, so I wouldn't acidentally upset him. Eight weeks spent of working with children during Summer vacation has taught me that it's easier to make a kid upset than one might think if you aproach the subject of why they're upset in the wrong way.

Steven rested his legs back down on the floor, and instead crossed his arms as he answered, pouting slightly, still angry.

"It's because of this guy, who thinks he's so much better than everyone else just because he's got the high-score in the game. Everytime someone tries to play, he'll challenge them in front of an audience, and because he always wins, everyone he beat gets too ashamed to try and play again." he explained, his voice getting more disgusted as he went on. I could feel my own disgust towards this guy, though I had never actually met him, and had to try my hardest to not pull a face.

I've always hated people who see themselves on some sort of pedestal, who think that they are somehow superior to everyone else and feel like they can do whatever they want towards others. Whenever I met someone like that, I always made sure to keep those around them from getting assaulted in whatever way this prick chose to try.

"I get the impression that you don't really like this guy. What's his name?" I said, having a bit of trouble keeping my composure due to the anger slowly starting to bubble in my stomach. Steven's eyes darkened, a sight that almost sent a shiver down my spine, and he almost spat his answer in disgust.

"Kevin."

Suddenly it was like an important piece had fallen into place, and the puzzle had now been solved. As soon as he said it I immediately undertood Steven's hate towards the person he'd been talking about. The first time I watched _Alone Together_ , I was almost unable to look whenever Kevin was on screen. I was disgusted by his character as soon as I saw him, and he easily became my number one most hated character. And knowing that I was now in the same universe as him, it sparked a sort of hatred in me that I hadn't felt in a long, long, time.

But I wasn't going to show my emotions, I couldn't. If Steven questions it, I don't know what could happen. So I'm not risking it.

"Well, sounds to me like he's not exactly your 'BFF', so... Mind telling me why you dislike him so much?" I said, playing the role of not knowing anything, and he took a few deep breaths before he answered, trying to calm himself down.

"Well, once when my firend Connie and I fused to go to a party-"

"Fused?" I asked, faking a confused face. Of course I knew what it was, but he didn't know that, and it felt like I needed to ask as to not make myself look suspicious.

"I-I'll explain later." He said, almost looking a bit nervous, and I nodded. He flashed a small, quick smile, before he continued.

"Anyways... We went to the dance, and we were having a really good time, until Kevin came up and started acting like a total creep! He kept on trying to dance with us, even when we said no, and he didn't care about our feelings at all! It was just uncomfortable, and creepy, and I hate him! I wish that just once, someone would put him in his place... show him that he's not better than everyone else and give him what he deserves." he said, almost looking a little ashamed after he'd finished ranting, and brought his knees back up to his chest.

I didn't know what to say. After watching the episode I obviously understood that he'd dislike Kevin, but this? I honestly felt so bad for both Steven and Connie. They're just kids, and shouldn't have had to go through something like that.

Then it hit me, and I knew exactly what I'd have to do.

"Hey, Steven, did you say that game was similar to the one in my world?"

* * *

With a sort of a plan in my mind, Steven and I headed for the back of the Arcade, and like he'd said, there was large dance-game surrounded by teens close to the right corner of the building. The game itself reminded me more of _DDR_ when it came to its appearence, as it consisted of two dance-floors with railings behind them, connected with a large black console that split in two to show a large screen on either side of the control-board. But what seemed to be the biggest difference between this game and any game from my world, was the fact that the two current players had something tied around their wrists and ankles, and if I had to guess what it was, I'd guess it's some form of control that helped track the movements of their limbs.

I looked closer at the players, and felt a fire starting to simmer in the pit of my stomach when I saw Kevin standing on the left dance-floor, the side for _Player 1_ , and I had to dig my nails into my palms to keep myself from running up and giving him a piece of my mind. Instead, I turned my attention to _Player 2_ , who from what I could see was a rather chubby looking dark-skinned girl with blue-died hair that was kept in a Fishbone-braid, wearing a frilly white blouse, pink shorts, white laced knee-high socks and white low-cut Converse.

I took a few steps closer to the crowd, Steven taking a hold of my hand as we started to move through it, and I stopped once I could see the girl's screen. I looked at her score, currently at 5826 points, and then turned my head to look at Kevin's. I felt dread come over me when I realized he almost had her score tripled, and I couldn't help but feel bad when I thought of how the girl would be treated by him once the song was finished.

I looked at her score again, now at 6381 points, and then back to Kevin's... who still had... What?

Something wasn't right here. I did the simple math of multiplying the girl's score by three everytime it changed, and it only took me four tries to realize why the scores looked so wrong. Kevin always had EXACTLY triple her score.

He was cheating.

My theory was only further confirmed when I saw him take a mis-step, and still get a perfect score, and I could feel disgust starting to build up inside me. I soon realized that the song they were dancing to, that reminded me an awful lot of _Moves Like Jagger_ from my world, was coming to an end, and I quickly started moving to the side of the game-console. I stopped once I was next to the blue-haired girl, and was just about to reach into my bag when I felt Steven pulling my hand a little, and when I looked at him, he seemed confused.

The sound of the music and the people cheering was too loud to talk over, so I just pointed towards Kevin, and mouthed ' _cheating_ ', and he immediately seemed to have gotten it. Though, he quickly got an angry look in his eyes once he realized what that meant, and looked he considered actually going up and mouthing off to him about it. But before he could, I tightened my grip on his hand and held up my finger, telling him to wait, as the song finally faded into a close.

The surrounding croud started to cheer and applaud Kevin and the girl when they were done, and they all held their breaths as the scores started to appear on their screens. Once they all saw the results, Kevin and most of the teens started cheering, while the girl looked absolutely broken and horrified. Kevin turned to her, a smug smirk on his face, and tears started to form in the girl's eyes.

Steven, being the amazingly kindhearted kid he is, quickly hopped up beside her to try and comfort her. While he did that, I took what little time I was given to pull out the Sonic Screwdriver from my bag, point it at the game, and think ' _return it to its normal settings_ ' while pressing down on the small button that activated it. A soft hum was heard from the machine, and if I had been able to use the screwdriver correctly, since this was my time using it, that meant that the Screwdriver had deactivated whatever Kevin had done to it to cheat. Now to see if it really worked.

"Aaw, don't cry, baby. You tried your best, but just like everyone else, your best just wasn't enough to beat me. But don't worry, at least your not the only one here who's garbage when it comes to dancing." Kevin said in a sickiningly smooth voice, causing the tears to now fall from the girls eyes, and I could see Steven trying his very best to keep himself from doing something that he might regret later. Kevin only laughed before he turned to his audience, that smug smirk still plastered onto his face.

"Anyone else who wants to try and see if they might be good enough to beat me, step right up." he said, but before anyone in the crowd could have a chance to answer, I confidently walked right up to him, straightened my back, and looked him dead in the eye as I answered.

"I do."

I heard the people behind me gasp, before they all started to whisper and point at me. But I couldn't care less about them right now, and instead kept looking at Kevin, who for just a moment, almost looked surprised at what I'd just told him. But he quickly shook it off and chuckled, before leaning against the railing on his right hand, keeping his left hand on his waist, as he gave me a disgusting smile.

"That's really cute, babe, but I don't think you're quite in the condition of being beaten by me." he said, using that smoothe voice of his again, and I heard some of the other teens questioning it as well. But I didn't back down, instead I took a step forward, forcing Kevin to lean back in surprise.

"You do not choose my actions, nor will you ever decide for me." I said, my voice so cold and empety of all emotion that it took him aback. His face was of pure chock, probably over the fact that someone had actually stood up to him, and it seemed so unfitting for his character that I almost laughed.

I wouldn't give him the pleasure to think of a remark to my statement, so instead I swiftly made my way over to Steven and the blue-haired girl, and I smiled at them.

"That was awesome! You actually stood up to him! And I so wish I could've taken a picture of his face when you did." Steven said, almost laughing, as he started to bounce a little. I let out a small chuckle, before I turned to look at the girl, who I now realized was at least one foot shorter than me, with warm chocolate-brown eyes and a diamond embedded nose-ring, and smiled at her.

"Don't let that idiot's words get to you. You were incredible, and you're an amazing dancer. Please don't think of yourself as anything else." I said, and the girl blushed a bright shade of red, laughing a little as she wiped away the last few tears that were still on her cheeks.

"Th-Thank you. Uhm... G-Good luck, I suppose." she said, giving me a small smile, before she handed me the red bands she'd worn during the dance and walked into the crowd.

"Hey, um, Felix?" Steven said in an almost worried tone, and I quickly looked at him.

"What is it, Steven?" I asked, and his expression turned into a weird mix of concern and sour.

"As much as I hate to say it, I think Kevin's right. Are you sure you're really feeling good enough for this? What if you open up your wounds? O-Or what if your legs get weak and you fall? Or, what if-?"

"Steven, calm down. I wouldn't do this if I didn't feel I had the strength to, trust me. Now, could you please keep an eye on my bag for me while I dance?" I said, and after a slight hesitation he nodded, and I handed him my bag. Once he'd put it on and taken a place next to the game, I started to put the strange red bands on, making sure to put the right one on the right limb, and once that was done, I looked over at Kevin with a smile.

"Shall we begin?" I asked with a smile, while raising an eyebrow at him.

His face became surprised again when he heard my enthusiasm, but he quickly tried to play it off with a small chuckle, before he looked back to the crowd behind us.

"Since it seems this guy doesn't know the rules we have for this game, I think it's only fair that I explain them to him. Even if they are pretty simple. We'll only do one song, whoever gets the highest score once we're done wins, and whoever loses, though it's obvious who that'll be, will be banned from playing again. Unless, that is, they want to try and challenge the winner with another dance." Kevin said, looking at me as he said the last sentance, obviously trying to get a reaction from me. But I wouldn't give him the pleassure.

"If that's all, then let's not drag this on for longer than we'll have to. Good luck, and may the best dancer win!" I said with a bright smile, while holding my hand out for him to shake, knowing that it would make him confused.

My action seemed to have worked as I wanted, as his face became one of utter surprise and confusion. But, since he still wanted to act like he was the one in control of the situation, he quickly shook my hand, before turning back to his screen, shaking his head and muttering a small ' _whatever_ '. He abruptly stopped however, as the confusion of my kindness seemed to have made him forget what he was planning to do, and quickly turned to the console's controls. Once he started to scroll through the songs available, his smirk returned, and I could feel his eyes on me as he kept scrolling towards the more complicated dances. My guess as to why? He'd stop once he saw me get uncomfortable, and pick whatever dance he landed on.

I saw the list of songs go from _beginner_ , to _easy_ , to _hard_ , and even _expert_ , before I saw his face get a bit worried. But I only kept on smiling, and then he finally stopped once he'd scrolled to the very last song on _Master-mode_. When a piece of the song started playing, I almost laughed out loud in surprise, and had to ball my hands into fists to keep myself from having a laughing-fit.

The song playing was a slightly more high-pitched, slightly more energetic, instrumental version of Sheppard's _Geronimo_ , and I already knew that everyone watching would be given one hell of a performance, since this was the song that my two dance-machines for best friends had performed to last summer. And right after that show, they had started to teach me the steps, and now... well. Let's just say that I've learnt how to fluently go from Street-dancing to Ballet in only a few movements.

Since Kevin never seemed to actually press the song, probably because he was still in chock over the fact that I wanted to do the hardest Dance in the game, I stepped up next to him and pushed the Start-button instead, and that's when I saw it. Another function that made this game so much different from the ones back home... it had a _Freestyle-mode_. I didn't even think twice before I pressed it, before swiftly jumping back onto my part of the game, and positioning myself with my feet apart, and my hands at my sides, as the song started playing.

When the song started the room grew silent, and I could once again feel Kevin's eyes on me, but I ignored both him and everyone else around me, and instead focused on the beat of the song. I started to jog in place in time with the beat, and imagined the words in my head as I began dancing.

* * *

 _Because I can not write the description of the dance routine without taking up the rest of the chapter, I will link you the inspiration for the dance;_ watch?v=FtvQPdkJQuI

* * *

After we had started dancing, almost all of the people in the arcade had gathered around us to watch, and for a good reason. Though I wish he'd found out later, it had only taken Kevin about half a minute to figure out that I was leading score-wise, with almost 4000 points more than him, and he had immediately started to actually do some good dancing to try and out-score me. The look on his face while he stood beside me dancing could tell a story, as it was an impressive mixture of confusion, anger, dissapointment, fear and a whole lot more that I didn't have the time to figure out. But even though he was sending me glares that would have murdered me if looks could kill, I only focused on my dancing, and keeping myself from pulling the gash in my arm to much, as it had already started to burn again.

During the dance, I'd used more of the Street-dancing when the song was upbeat, and whenever I spun around, I could see Steven looking at me with star-filled eyes. And when the song slowed down a bit, like it did when I imagined the words ' _Can you feel my love?_ ' and ' _Bombs away_ ' were being sung, I'd gracefully go into more Ballet-like movements, kicking my legs out and spinning, while always moving my arms in a way that made it seem like they controlled themselves.

And now, once again, the music slowed down, and I knew that this would be the build-up for the end of song, so in only three short moves, I'd now taken a cross-legged position while keeping my arms and head down.

 _"Well I'm just a boy, with a broken home, all lost and gone."_

I didn't even realized I'd sung that part until I heard the crowd behind me gasp. But I didn't think about it as I instead got up on my toes and moved my arms in a small, almost flying-like movement, while shifting between having my right leg in front of and behind my left one, in beat with the music while the ' _waterfall_ ' part played in my head.

 _"So it's here I stand, as a broken man, but I've found a friend."_

This time I sang it knowingly, smiling a bit, and bending my left leg to and from my right knee while I sang the words, moving my arms in great gestures, looking at Steven as I sang the last word. In the corner of my eye I could see Kevin slipping up, and almost tripping out of frustration as he tried, in vein, to show he was better than me.

 _"Now I'm falling down, through crashing sound, but you've come around_! _"_

I kicked my legs to the beat, throwing an arm out to the side with each kick, and stopped to once again cross my legs at the final three words, and moved my arms in a large circle over my head, letting them fall slowly back to my sides.

" _And you rushed with me, and you made me free, so I fall to my knees_!"

I moved my right leg and arm out to my side, before bringing them in and doing a pirruette, putting my left leg and arm out in front of me once I'd stopped, before pulling them back again and jumping back with my right leg brought up behind me, and bringing my arms up and down once I stopped singing. And as the 'waterfall' part once again played in my head, I made a slow pirruette, right leg stretched out and my arms above my head, before I completely bent down, one leg stretched out in front of me with my arms out at my sides, once the music stopped.

I suddenly felt the same rush that had gone through my body back in Kindergarten, and I smirked, before kicking backwards off the floor as the music slowly picked up again, grabbing hold of the railing behind me and landing on it, before doing a backflip down on the floor behind the game as the first ' _S_ _ay geronimo_ ' played in my mind. When I landed I quickly jumped up and resumed the moves I'd danced earlier, and when the song really started to pick up I did another quick pirruette before moving into the crowd, grabbing the hand of the person closest to me, who just happened to be the girl who danced before me, and making her dance with me into the audience.

While I danced with her, everyone around us started to dance along to the music as well, including Steven, and the teens who had previously been cheering for Kevin, who was now dancing like a maniac trying to bring up his score. I looked at the blue-haired girl in front of me, and gave her a panted smile that caused her face to go red again, before spinning her and bringing her down in a dip. I brought her up again and let go when I heard that the song had started to fade into a close, and jumpingly made my way to the front of the crowd, before slowly bringing my right arm up on my left side, pulling it back and slowly bringing my arms and head down, and slowly raising both my arms, all in the beat of the final ' _Can you feel my love_?', before pulling a Rainbow Quartz once the song ended.

What do I mean by that? I spun around and bent my leg behind me, as I fell down on my back, my arms at my sides.

Once the song was finally over, I started to pant heavily, pushing myself up in a sitting position as everyone around me started to applaude me, and I felt like I could do nothing but smile back at them as two of the guys hoisted me up by my arms, causing me to wince because it pulled at my wound, before patting me on the back and praising me. I thanked them, and only had the time to wipe the sweat off my forehead, before I was almost tackled down by the hug I got from Steven.

"That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen! I've never seen anyone dance like that before! And I never imagined that you'd sing!" he almost shouted out of enthusiasm, while laughing and smiling widely. I swallowed the saliva that had been building up in my mouth, before taking a few deep breaths and started to gently ruffle his hair.

"Thanks, cuz." I panted, calling him 'cousin' to keep up with our act, in case anyone around us wondered about our actions. He only answered with a small chuckle, before turning to look at the screen on my side of the game when the scores started to show.

"No way! I don't understand, there's no possible way you could've won!" Kevin shouted out of anger once the scores were visible on our screens, and turned to glare at me with that murder look in his eyes, but I only smiled back at him, still panting.

I'd won with almost 6000 more points than him.

"What's all this fuss back here about?!" a large and booming voice suddenly yelled, taking everyone by such surprise, several yelps were heard from some of the teens in the crowd. The people in the middle of the crowd seperated, and a very crossed-looking mr. Smiley walked over to where Steven and I were standing, before turning to look at me.

"Well, would you be so kind as to tell me what's going on here, son?" he asked, forcing a smile while sending a sour look at Kevin, as he tried to walk away before he could get in trouble. I smiled at mr. Smiley, which seemed to somewhat calm him down.

"Of course, sir. You see, that guy there has been harassing the people trying to play this game by mixturing with the machine, so that it would triple the score of whoever he played against and make those his points. And after every match, he'd verbally assault them by telling them how bad they are." I said, my tone kept flat in an attempt to hide my anger towards Kevin, still keeping the smile on my face. Almost everyone in the audience gasped at my words, before sending sour looks at Kevin, who looked like he'd just been caught trying to steal something.

Mr. Smileys face immediately twisted into one of anger and disgust, before he snapped his head in Kevin's direction, and he started to breathe heavily as he stomped over to him, looking like he was ready to tear him to bloody pieces.

"You did what, with my machine? Did you really think that you could just go and do that to my property, without me finding out?! And for such a selfish and disgusting reason?! Young man, you can grant yourself lucky that I'm not having you arrested-"

Mr. Smiley's angry ranting kept on for quite a while after that, but I stopped listening after the first minute or so when the blue-haired girl walked up to me while I was carefully putting the bag back on my shoulder, as Steven had gone to answer his phone when Pearl called.

"How did you know he did that thing to the game?" she asked, tilting her head a little, while raising an eyebrow. I chuckled a little before answering, bringing a hand up to my bandaged wound to hide the small drops of blood that had started to seep through the fabric.

"Well, it didn't exactly take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that he was cheating. No matter what your score was, he'd always have that exact number tripled. All it took to figure it out was some simple math. Nothing special, really." I said, giving her a sideways smile. She blushed again, and let out a small chuckle, before looking down at her feet and placing her hand on her neck.

"Maybe. Anyways... Thank you, for putting that idiot in his place, and... for the dance." she said, before quickly pulling me towards her by the collar of my shirt, and placing a small kiss on my left cheek.

I felt my face heat up a little when she let go, and when she backed away, her face was so red it looked like it was about to melt. I let out a soft chuckle, making her look at me with an embarrassed face, before I shook my head a little and looked back at her.

"The pleasure was all mine, m'lady." I said, causing her to laugh at my choice of words, before she shook her head as well.

Suddenly I felt Steven grabbing my hand, and when I looked down at him I saw him placing his phone back in his right back pocket, before looking up at me with a wide smile.

"Pearl said that dinner's ready, and that we should get back home soon, before Amethyst eats it all." he said, and I nodded, before I looked back up at the girl.

"I guess I'll see you around?" I asked, and she nodded, giving me a wide smile and a wink.

"You got it! And when we do, how about I treat ya to some ice-cream? As thanks for today?" she said, and I gave her a quick thumbs up as Steven started to pull me with him towards the exit, a small sprint in his steps.

"It's a date!" I answered, just as we exited the arcade, and I could see her face growing red again, which caused me to let out a small laugh.

I finally looked back up in front of me when Steven started to run, and I noticed how low the sun had gotten, and how the sky had turned into a beautiful mixture of all kinds of reds, orange and yellows, and how even now, the stars had started to appear on the parts of the sky that were still blue. All of this I managed to take in in the time it took us to reach _Beach Citywalk Fries_ , and by the time we'd run past the _T-shirt Shop_ , Steven had finally started to slow down, and let go of my hand just as we reached _The Big Donut_.

Once we were right about to walk past it, I heard the bells on the front door jingle, and when I turned to look, I saw the one and only Greg Universe walking out of the store with a large paper bag in hand. Steven soon turned around as well, and when he saw his dad, a large grin appeared on his face as he started to run towards him, arms stretched out to his sides.

"Dad!" he exclaimed, taking Greg by such surprise that he almost dropped his bag, but he managed to catch it just before Steven jumped onto him and gave him a hug. Greg let out a surprised laugh, before hugging his son back and placing him back down on the ground.

"Hey Shtuball, what are you doing out here this late? Shouldn't you be having dinner right about now?" he asked, ruffling Steven's hair a little.

"That's why we're on our way home!" Steven answered, and Greg looked confused for a second, probably wondering why his son had just spoken about multiple people, before he finally looked up at me.

His eyes widened a little, and I could see the familiar look of concern that my dad always had whenever I got hurt, mixed with surprise, as I gave him a small wave.

"Oh, did you make a new friend?" he asked Steven after he'd finally let go, before looking back up at me, still with concern and worry.

"Yeah! This is Felix, the Gems found him on their mission in Kindergarten today!" Steven said, before walking over to me and grabbing my hand again, and pulling me over to where Greg stood.

"Oh, so you're a Gem then?" he asked after Steven'd let go of me, and I quickly faked a confused face. Couldn't make myself look suspicious.

"If you mean like Garnet, Amethyst or Pearl, then no. I'm fully human." I answered, giving him a small smile. A look of confusion spread across Greg's face when I said that, and he scratched the bald part of his head a little, placing one hand on his hip.

"Really? I thought the Gems said that it was impossible for humans to enter any of the places that belonged to Homeworld?" he said, but before I could answer to his contemplations, Steven answered for me.

"Well, it is, but Felix was only able to get there because that's where the portal that sent him to our world opened!" he said, smiling widely as he looked at me.

The confusion on Greg's face seemed to have multiplied by ten, as he almost looked like the human equivalent of a question mark, before he too looked up at me. I let out a sigh, before resting my hand back on my neck, scratching it a little.

"I know this will sound weird, and unbelievable, and completely impossible, to be honest, but... I'm from another dimension. I was sent here when it got destroyed, and like Steven said, that's how I ended up in Kindergarten. It was only out of pure luck that the Gems even found me there. So, they brought me to the Temple and said that I was allowed to stay there for as long as I needed. And that's why we're out right now, because your son wanted to show me as much of this city as possible." I explained, and it seemed like I had answered at least a few of his unspoken questions, as he slowly nodded in response.

"Okay then, I guess. I mean, my son lives with three magical beings from another planet, so I don't see why I shouldn't believe that other dimensions exist as well." he said, but he sounded like he wasn't even really sure if he believed his own words. I chuckled a little, and brought down my hand from my neck, resting it on the strap of my bag instead.

"I-I know it might be a lot to take in, at least for another human, but I hope that you don't think it's too weird. And I just want you to know that you won't have to worry about anything happening to your son! My world is almost exactly like this one, a-and back home I'd take care of my cousins' kids all the time, and spent almost my entire summer vacation at a kindergarten, so I would never let anything happen to Steven! If anything, I'd be more of a big brother to him than-"

"Hey, hey, calm down! It's okay, I trust you." Greg said with a nervous smile, cutting me off as I started to feel my eyes water, and my heart pounding faster against my chest. Steven looked up at me, worry clearly visible on his face, as he quickly grabbed my hand, giving me enough comfort to calm down a little.

I sucked in a few deep breaths, and once my heart had returned to its normal rythm, I looked back at Greg with a small smile.

"Thank you. And sorry, about that, it's just..." I started, trying to keep the smile on my face, but Greg once again stopped me from continuing, this time by placing a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him, as I felt a small tear slide down my left cheek, and saw him smiling at me.

"It's okay, you don't have to say it if you don't want to." he said softly, and since I wasn't really sure what to answer, I only nodded in response.

"Thanks, mr. Steven's-dad-guy." I said, as I realized Greg had never really introduced himself, which caused both him and Steven to laugh.

"Oh, please, just call me Greg." He said after a good ten seconds of laughing, a small tear in his eyes, as he shook his head. I smiled back at him.

"You got it." I said, before I suddenly remembered that Steven and I were supposed to have been back at the temple at least five minutes ago, and I quickly looked down at him, seeing him wipe a few tears of laughter from his eye.

"Steven, we have to get back to the Temple. Pearl must've started to get worried by now." I said, and he nodded his head, still smiling, before quickly jumping up and giving his dad one more hug. I laughed a little at that, before I turned to look at Greg, smiling.

"It was nice to meet you, Greg." I said, as he placed Steven back on the ground, ruffling his hair a bit, before he looked back at me.

"You too, Felix. Now, get going you two, before the Gems start looking for you." he answered, and I nodded, before taking a hold of Steven's hand and making our way back to the beach house.


End file.
